Day: May 15, 2002

Why ABC Is Doomed

David Winer pointed to a story in the New York Times about ABC’s extremely poor television ratings. Apparently the plan at ABC is to premier a bunch of new shows, but the horrific content of those new shows exemplifies what is wrong with the network (and television) in the first place. If this wasn’t reported in the Times, I’d have thought this proposed show was a parody or somebody’s idea of a bad joke,

Among the shows that will have what Lloyd Braun, the chairman of ABC Entertainment, calls the ABC footprint are two new comedies. The show “8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter,” will lead off Tuesday night at 8, with the star John Ritter playing a father who has to come to terms with his daughters’ increasingly active social lives.

Yeah, I was just thinking the other day that what the world really needs now is another sitcom featuring John Ritter. Who in their right mind would give the goahead for a John Ritter sitcom? Why not throw Gary Coleman in there as the slightly obnoxious next door neighbor?

Source:

ABC Plans a Return to Its Roots to Reverse a Ratings Decline. Bill Carter and Jim Rutenberg, The New York Times, May 15, 2002.

Measles Vaccination Works in the Developing World

A study published this month in The Lancet should settle once and for all whether or not vaccination of disease is a worthwhile goal to achieve in the developing world. There has been some skepticism over whether or not poor nations possessed the infrastructure to carry out large scale vaccination programs.

The study looked at World Health Organization efforts to vaccinate for measles in Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, South AFrica, Swaziland and Zimbabwe.

Over four years, WHO and national health agencies vaccinated almost 24 million children in those seven countries. The study found that as a result of the vaccination programs, total cases of measles in those countries fell from 60,000 in 1996 to less than 200 in the year 2000. Total deaths dropped from 160 in 1996 to zero in 2000.

Vaccination can work even in extremely poor countries.

Source:

Measles vaccine’s African success story. Corrine Podger, The BBC, May 3, 2002.

Animal Protection Institute Wants Frog Jumping Contest Stopped

The Animal Protection Institute recently circulated a press release calling for an end to the 74-year-old Caleveras Count Fair and Jumping Frog Jubilee which is scheduled to take place this weekend in Angels Camp, California.

The frog jump competition was started in the 1920s hand attracts hundreds of participants who compete for the $5,000 grand prize. In a sample letter distributed with its press release, API writes that,

  • Like circuses, cockfighting, and greyhound racing, frog jumping promotes the message that animals exist purely to entertain us.

API also describes the conditions under which the frogs are kept in boxes prior to the event as “certainly cruel and inhumane.”

Source:

Help stop cruel “frog-jumping” contests. Animal Protection Institute, Press Release, May 13, 2002.

Police Conduct Nationwide Operation Targeting Alleged Anti-HLS Extremists

Police in Great Britain today conducted a nationwide police operation at 7 a.m. local time that resulted in the arrests of four individuals, with three additional individuals being sought by police.

The suspects, three men and four women who remain unidentified at the moment, were wanted in connection with a campaign of intimidation directed at a company that anti-Huntingdon Life Sciences activists believed was providing insurance for the beleaguered animal testing firm. Police would not identify the insurance company involved.

Two women, aged 43 and 19, were arrested at separate homes in Leicester. Simultaneously police took into custody a London woman and a Nottingham man. Police are still trying to locate additional suspects in Hampshire, Lancashire, and Leicester.

National Crime Squad detective inspector Terry Pearce told the Leicester Mercury,

Although activity by animal rights extremists is usually concentrated on specific targets, the suspects are based all over the country. We are fortunate to have the support of local forces to mount these complex operations.

No word yet on when those arrested will be formally charged.

Source:

Animal Rights Group Suspects Held In Raid Ciaran Fagan, Leicester Mercury, May 15, 2002.

Cockfighting Set to be Banned in Kansas

The Wichita Eagle reports that the Kansas legislature has approved a bill that will explicitly outlaw cockfighting in Kansas. The new law will make cockfighting a crime punishable by up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine. A spokeswoman for Kansas Gov. Bill Graves said that the governor plans to sign the bill into law.

The bill passed overwhelmingly 112-10 in the Kansas state House and 36-4 in the Senate.

The new law is aimed at shoring up Kansas’ animal cruelty laws. According to the Humane Society of the United States’ Wayne Pacelle, Kansas was one of six states that do not explicitly ban cockfighting in their legal codes.

Instead, cockfighting was prosecuted in Kansas as a violation of animal cruelty laws which, according to the new law’s supporters, made them difficult cases to prosecute.

Source:

Lawmakers pass cockfighting ban. Mike Berry, The Wichita Eagle, May 14, 2002.

Laura Doyle Is Back With ‘The Surrendered Single’

Laura Doyle, author of the much touted/criticized book The Surrendered Wife, is back with a follow-up directed at unmarried women, The Surrendered Single. Doyle’s advice is predictable — if the way to have a happy marriage is through female passivity, then the way to find the man of your dreams is to be passive during dating.

If Doyle wanted to be honest about her advice, she would title her books The Surrendered Child, since she is essentially arguing that women assume a childlike posture toward women including going so far as to hide their true personalities in order to be more engaging and pleasing to men.

Doyle’s advises women that they should never ask men out. If they are asked out by a man, they should accept even if they do not find their suitor attractive or interesting. Smile at every man they meet, where form-fitting clothes, and keep your mouth shut on dates.

Katha Pollitt hit the nail on the head when she told The Daily Telegraph (London),

A woman who follows this advice will get the man she deserves. Being false and submissive will please only a man who wants someone false and submissive. And what happens when the truth comes out? The man is going to be very angry and bewildered.

I am still trying to figure out what sort of man wants to date Doyle’s submissive single and what sort of woman could follow this advice. According to Doyle,

… control is the enemy of intimacy. When we surrender control of who pursues us and how he does it, we clear the way for the relationship we always wanted.

But there’s no relationship at all here since Doyle’s advice boils down to telling women that they should always present themselves as little more than sycophants to their boyfriends and/or husbands.

Source:

The way to keep a man’s heart — keep quiet. Laurel Ives, The Daily Telegraph (London), April 30, 2002.