Day: January 29, 2004

Dude Looks Like . . . Howard Lyman?

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is back at it again with its billboards, this time with its “Dude Looks Like a Lady” billboard. A company in Knoxville, Tennessee ran this billboard for awhile along I-40 until it received too many complaints and was relocated.

The billboard features a neck-down picture of an overweight man wearing only underwear, with the text, “Dude Looks Like a Lady: Lose the Boobs—Go Vegetarian.” In a PETA press release, Bruce Friedrich said,

This should put to rest the myth that thereÂ’s anything macho about eating meat. If unspeakable animal suffering, environmental degradation, and dreaded diseases haven’t scared devout male carnivores, the prospect of growing an unwanted set of boobs might have them racing for the salad bar.

Oddly enough, the obese man bore a striking resemblance to well-known vegetarian Howard Lyman.

Sources:

PETA Billboard Being Relocated due to Complaints. Wate.Com, January 7, 2004.

Billboard Showing Man With Breasts Is Wake-Up Call For Knoxville Meat-Eaters. Press Release, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, January 5, 2004.

Pennsylvania Supreme Court Turns Back Challenge to Pigeon Shoot

On January 2, 2004, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court released a one-sentence ruling denying efforts by a Pennsylvania human officer who had sought a preliminary injunction against a planned pigeon shoot at the Pike Township Sportsmen’s Association.

Humane officer Johnna Seeton argued in court that the pigeon shoots violated Pennsylvania animal cruelty laws, but the Superior Court of Berks County had previously ruled that the pigeon shoots did not violate the animal cruelty statute. Seeton is the chairwoman of the Pennsylvania Legislative Animal Network, which over the years has worked for a wide range of animal rights causes and projects.

Animal rights activists succeed in shutting down the large Hegins pigeon shoot in 1999, but a number of smaller pigeon shoots continue in Pennsylvania.

The Fund for Animals, which crusaded for years against the Hegins shoot, issued a press release following the Supreme Court decisions saying,

The Fund argues that pigeon shoots violate Pennsylvania’s anti-cruelty statute because thousands of birds are intentionally injured and left to suffer with their wounds, sometimes for days, without any medical treatment. “We are able to stop this barbaric and inhumane practice in Hegins and it should be stopped throughout Pennsylvania,” said [Fund President Heidi] Prescott. “Unfortunately, although hundreds of violations of Pennsylvania’s cruelty statute take place at these live pigeon shoots throughout the year, several pigeon shoot cases have been languishing in the courts for over a decade. If the courts are not going to take action to stop this cruel and illegal practice, the legislature must step up and bring the Commonwealth in line with the vast majority of states that already [sic] bans such barbaric practices.”

Sources:

Pennsylvania State Supreme Court Refuses to Hear Appeal to Stop Cruel and Inhumane Pigeon Shoots. Press Release, Fund for Animals, January 8, 2004.

Appeal To Halt Cruel Pigeon Shoots Rejected. Animal News Center, January 17, 2004.

Alaska Expands Plans to Kill Wolves

While Priscilla Feral and Friends of Animals were busy trying to organize protests against plans by Alaska to kill 140 wolves in the McGrath area using aerial hunting, the Alaskan Department of Fish and Game was busy expanding its wolf control program. In January it began taking permit applications to kill about 30 wolves in the Nelchina basin.

As with the McGrath plan, the goal of the wolf control program in Nelchina is to reduce the wolf population in order to increase the size of the moose population for hunters.

The Nelchina basin had a land-and-shoot program until 1995, and since that program ended the wolf population in the area has more than doubled according to the Department of Fish and Game. This has resulted in the moose population in the region declining by more than half (the wolves are apparently extremely efficient at killing moose calves).

As far as McGrath, so far weather conditions have meant that no wolves have been killed yet, but the Department of Fish and Game expects that to change in February and March.

Source:

Alaska takes applications for new wolf control program. Mary Pemberton, Associated Press, January 7, 2004.

Greg Dyke: Then and Now

Hmmm. Greg Dyke then,

[BBC head Greg Dyke said,] “We are here for everyone in the UK, a trusted guide in a complex world.

“We perform this role best by exercising the freedom to air a wide range of opinion and to report the facts as best we can. In doing so, far from betraying the national interest, we’re serving it.”

. . .

“The whole culture of BBC journalism is based on the drive for accurate and impartial reporting.

“And we must never allow political influences to colour our reporting or cloud our judgement.

“Commercial pressures may tempt others to follow the Fox News formula of gung-ho patriotism but for the BBC this would be a terrible mistake”

. . . and, of course, Greg Dyke now, announcing his resignation,

“I think mistakes were clearly made by the BBC and that’s life. I think my going is actually quite important in preserving the BBC’s independence. You honestly have to believe that a line has to be drawn under this.”

Mistakes were made . . . and that’s life.

Sources:

Greg Dyke resigns. The Guardian, Owen Gibson, January 29, 2004.

Dyke slates ‘gung-ho’ war reports. The BBC, April 24, 2003.

Kicking Dean When He’s Down

Okay, as much as I disliked Howard Dean, I admit I fell for the whole “he’s got a slick organization driven by the Internet” meme which is now exposed as so much nonsense. But the stories coming out after Joe Trippi’s firing suggest the Dean organization wasn’t just overrated but apparently had the institutional intelligence of a tick.

According to the Washington Post and New York Times, Dean is no longer running television ads, largely because it can’t afford to. Dean raised more money than any other Democrat — $41 million — but apparently only has about $4 million left.

But, as Dan Conley notes, something doesn’t add up. Dean apparently spent about $9.2 million on advertising, but where did the other $32 million go? How the hell does Dean raise more than any Democrat in history and end up broke after back-to-back lousy performance in the first two primaries?

It also turns out that the just-fired Joe Trippi didn’t receive a salary but instead drew up to a 15 percent commission on the millions of dollars in TV advertising (that’s right, Trippi profited from Dean’s horrible TV ads in Iowa and New Hampshire).

Jesus, if Dean simply wanted his campaign to throw away money for poor results, why didn’t he just hire Halliburton to manage his campaign?

Sources:

Dean’s Money Advantage Dwindles: Candidate Won’t Buy More Feb. 3 Ads. Thomas B. Edsall and Paul Farhi, Washington Post, January 29, 2004.

In Shake-Up, Dean Names Gore Ally to Run Campaign Jodi Wilgoren and Gen Justice, New York Times, January 29, 2004.

Sad day in Burlington. Dan Conley, January 29, 2004.

Why Is Wesley Clark Spamming Me?

Today I received my first political spam of the year — some lame piece of nonsense trying to get me to visit Wesley Clark’s lame web site. Apparently I’m not the only one receiving this spam.

I suppose, though, that if Clark were president he would have favored forming a coalition to go to the UN to ask for further study by the Security Council on spam.

Thank goodness Clark as all but cratered in the campaign and we won’t have to hear about him in the context of the presidential campaign much longer.