Month: November 2002

Ah, the Advantages of Objective Media

Over the past few weeks it seemed like Roger Ailes memo to George W. Bush was getting as much attention on CNN as the DC sniper’s tarot card did. As far as I’m concerned, all broadcast news is nothing but entertainment and should be treated as such, but CNN set out a clear standard of objectivity in its relentless reporting and criticism of Ailes’ memo.

So how come I wake up this morning and see this running across their news ticker,

Woman who wrote riot-inciting Miss World story resigns

So even CNN thinks the Nigerian riots were all the fault of some uppity woman reporter who didn’t know her place. Presumably we will soon see headlines like, “Woman dressed in high skirt and low-cut top gets raped.”

Maybe if they’d grow a spine down in Atlanta, they might be able to stop the ass kicking they’re receiving from Fox.

Google News

The first time around I missed the importance of Google News, though I figured it had to be doing something right given how Dave Winer was trumpeting RSS news feeds as superior. The other day, though, someone explained exactly why I should be using Google News and after a few days of playing around with it, I am extremely impressed.

As an information junkie, one of the benefits I like the best about my current job is that I have free access to Lexis/Nexis. For what I am interested in, however, I’m having more success keeping up with important news by using Google News than I am with Lexis/Nexis and certainly much better than with existing Internet resources (including RSS feeds).

For example, a quick search for all news related to animal rights keeps me on top of 90 percent of the stories I’m trying to track on that topic.

Depending on whether or not they charge for this after it leaves beta, and of course how much they charge for the service, Google could make a lot of money as a sort of poor man’s Lexis/Nexis.

Color me impressed.

Animal Liberation Front Steals 128 Dogs from Italian Research Facility

Animal Liberation Front activists broke into an Italian dog-breeding center on November 24, 2002 and stole 128 beagles. The dogs were to be used for medical research according to police.

Police estimated about 10 people broke into the farm and stole the animals as well as spray painting animal rights slogans such as “Murderers” and “ALF will free all” at the facility.

Despite that last slogan, the ALF activists left behind the 800+ remaining dogs at the breeding center.

Source:

‘Terrorists’ steal 128 beagles. The Herald Sun (UK), November 24, 2002.

Gary Yourofsky — Killing Researchers Is Okay, But Don't Touch That Turkey!

One of the more absurd commentaries on dietary choices for Thanksgiving had to come from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals’ Gary Yourofsky lecturing people about choosing tofu over turkey.

Yourofsky told about 30 students gathered at Midwestern State University,

I do not eat anything – or a product of anything – with a face, a mother or a bowl movement. . . . But I’m not an animal lover. Call me anything but an animal lover. . . . [I want] simple decency [for animals] . . .of all the exploited beings on earth, animals are the most terrorized.

Apparently Yourofsky has forgotten his advocacy of terrorizing anyone who dares disagree with him. As he told The Toledo Blade in the Summer of 2001, “we must be willing to do whatever it takes to gain their [animals] freedom and stop their torture.” When asked if this extended to killing “animal abusers” Yourofsky said, without missing a beat, “I would unequivocally support that, too.”

Yourofsky’s concern about simple decency and terrorism stops with his fellow human beings.

Source:

PETA rep pitches turkey-less holiday. Brye Butler, Times Record News (Texas), November 30, 2002.