Portions!

Please, if any of this surprises anyone, please e-mail me. I rolled my eyes no fewer than three times through the article.

The findings, released by the American Institute for Cancer Research, add to the debate over how much restaurants and fast-food outlets are contributing to the epidemic of obesity in the United States and elsewhere.

The institute's survey found that 69 percent of those polled finish their meals most or all of the time, even when the portions are huge.

"Fully 30 percent of Americans now say they generally base the amount of food they eat on the amount they are served," according to the institute, which promotes research on the links between diet and cancer.

"In a country where 64 percent of us are overweight or obese, there is an alarming tendency to overlook the sheer amount of food we're eating," Dr. Barbara Rolls of Pennsylvania State University told a news conference.

hln

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Chrissy Hynde? Who's That? On

On Thursday in Paris, in what can only be a publicity stunt or another manifestation of public idiocity, Pretenders' lead singer Chrissy Hynde got cozy with PETA in Paris (how...trendy).

PARIS, France (AP) -- Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders joined animal activists in a loud protest outside a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant in central Paris.

...

Hynde and a dozen others, including leaders of the animal rights group PETA, were briefly detained by police after blocking traffic Wednesday on a main boulevard and smearing red paint across the restaurant's window to symbolize the blood of dead chickens.

"The protest won't end here," said the 51-year-old pop singer, who was scheduled to perform Friday in a pop music festival in western France. "Even if I shout for two hours I can assure you, I'll still have a voice for the concert."

And we care? Pleh. Protest some more, and land yourself back on the chain gang.

hln

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Oooh, More, More, More on

Oooh, More, More, More on the TVC

Now it's a SCANDAL. I missed this afternoon update yesterday from the NRO on the pharmaceutical bill, but I just found it, so I'll be a nice human and share.

<cackle>Scurrilous!<cackle>

hln

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Know Thy Enemy: North Koreans

Know Thy Enemy: North Koreans (IMAO)

Frank J. of IMAO renders this advice (and so, so much more) about North Korea.

My favorite:

If a North Korean bites you, you become one.

hln

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But Is He Really Dead?

You can never be too cautious, but the missing arms expert's body's been found near London.

Hmm.

hln

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No More Programming in France,

Okay, so the French nixed the word e-mail. Silly as can be, but okay. If they want to spend their citizens' money to find proper "terms" for the language, I really have no beef with that.

But what's next? Are the French going to discover/create a new programming language? Last I checked (being a web developer), all of the software languages I use are chock full o' lovely English words.

Hmmm. Lots of assembly code. Ick.

hln

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You Can Have Your Cake

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - American children are fatter than ever before, but they are far less violent and far less likely to get pregnant than most people think, according to a government report issued on Friday.

Yahoo and CNN both have stories about our portly youth and their tendencies.

And what else do you get when you research kids and obesity? Video games and television. Here's what I've concluded from these three articles(just for fun). It may be true; it's most likely heinous fallacy. Aren't statistics great?

1) America's children are more concerned with food than sex. (Teen pregnancy down; weight up).
2) Video games decrease both actual sex and actual violence in our children's lives.
3) Kids are still drinking an alarming amount of alcohol (but only while playing video games), but the smoking rate has declined. This is probably because they have to go outside to perform this activity, but drinking can take place around the console.
4) Violent crime is down because children never leave their homes, and they're more knowledgeable about firearms (because of video games?) that they don't accidentally shoot themselves (or others) with the family gun(s).

Everybody! Buy six copies of Vice City, and shove those kids toward the console! Fat's in vogue, don't you know? I saw a man last night at Old Spaghetti Factory who sported a t-shirt proclaiming his pride in his body size. Your kid could be THAT GUY!

I'll probably expand this after work...

hln

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Traditional Values Coalition, meet the

Todd Akin, Jo Ann Davis, Randy Forbes, Virgil Goode, Jim Demint, John Shadegg, Pat Toomey, Tom Tancredo: All of these congressmen had 100-percent ratings from the National Right to Life Committee for the last Congress. They have something else in common, too: They're the targets of a direct-mail campaign by the Traditional Values Coalition that questions their commitment to the unborn. That campaign has other social conservatives questioning the TVC's motives.

Brian read the NRO today before I did, and he pointed this out to me for review and further commentary.

The TVC is target more than Uncle Todd, I see. I blogged about this a few days ago, having received the mailing. Ponnuru obviously spent more time on his piece than I on my basic surface criticism, and it's quite a good read.

hln

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Now That We've Given Up

Now that we've given up cable, there's this.

Figures.

hln

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Pat Robertson and Prayer Wow,

Wow, Pat Robertson must know something the rest of us mere mortals do not. He's delivered some pretty specific prayer requests to God, and, I'm sure will become very critical if he does not receive the answers he desires.

"We ask for miracles in regard to the Supreme Court," Robertson said on the Christian Broadcasting Network's "The 700 Club."

Robertson has launched a 21-day "prayer offensive" directed at the Supreme Court in the wake of its 6-3 June vote that decriminalized sodomy. Robertson said in a letter on the CBN Web site that the ruling "has opened the door to homosexual marriage, bigamy, legalized prostitution and even incest."

Woohoo! Prayer Wars.

And, wary public, rest not your vigilant watch, lest this public prayer trend become a weekly feature for CNN. Soon, soon, I say, Reverend Robertson will need to beseech the Lord to put an end to Jerry Springer's senate campaign.

And, if he asks for a Segway (new or used), I'm going to have to decry him some more.

I'll keep my prayers private, thanks.

hln

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More PETA and KFC, courtesy

Of course, since I wrote about this, when I found the NRO article (Friday's - I missed it then because I was ill) entitled PETA-Fried, well, I felt I had to share.

My favorite spots?

Bachelder "jumped on the corporate jet and flew to PETA's hometown of Norfolk," PETA's website crowed, acquiescing to five of PETA's eight demands. According to the organization's victory report, among other matters, Bachelder pledged to install cameras in all of KFC's 29 slaughterhouses by the end of next year, with a plan to audit the tapes monthly. KFC also agreed 1) to ensure that its suppliers would add stimulation devices to the perches in the chicken sheds; 2) to move quickly to kill chickens in electric stun baths rather than merely immobilizing them; 3) to implement humane mechanized chicken-gathering systems; and 4) to provide increased space for chicken housing. KFC promised to report back to PETA on a regular basis to verify its compliance.

In return, PETA didn't have to agree to do much of anything. The anti-KFC campaign would continue, though with a 60-day suspension. PETA would not picket the 2003 annual shareholder meeting. It agreed to modify its website assertions about KFC, and suspended "all planned billboards." And it promised not to undertake further "step-ups" in the anti-KFC campaign for 60 days — meaning that it would be at least 61 days before protesters returned to picket Bachelder's home.

The promised reforms may all be fine, appropriate, and humane changes in the raising and slaughter of chickens. Indeed, it is an important human obligation to treat food animals properly and to kill them as humanely as is practicable. But it shouldn't take pressure from fanatics for corporate executives to do the right thing. Indeed, acting under such pressure merely adds to the power of animal-rights liberationists, making them an ever-greater threat to the legitimate use of animals.

If KFC thought that it had bought peace and security from PETA by so clearly and publicly caving in to the organization's threats and intimidation, it didn't know its enemy. I use the word enemy in its literal sense. PETA's goal is not to reform KFC's practices. It isn't ultimately seeking a universal standard for humane treatment of chickens by food producers. These goals are mere tactical efforts on the way to PETA's ultimate goal: driving KFC — and all other meat-serving fast-food restaurants — out of business.

Yes, indeed. PETA does think we should all be vegans. You can have my butter (on the rare occasions I choose to partake of it) when you <cliche>pry it from my cold, dead hands</cliche>.

And...

When I first read this, I almost spat out my morning coffee. PETA ideologues believe that killing animals for food is the moral equivalent of genocide. Indeed, PETA minions have for several months traveled the country promoting vegetarianism on college campuses in the "Holocaust on Your Plate" campaign. Holocaust on Your Plate explicitly equates animal husbandry and meat-eating with the death camps and the genocide of Jews in the Holocaust. To illustrate its thesis, PETA crassly juxtaposes photographs of a pile of dead pigs with a pile of the bodies of dead concentration-camp inmates and claims that "the leather sofa and handbag are the modern equivalent of the lampshades made from the skins of the people killed in the death camps."

It must be understood that PETA-type fanatics do not see Holocaust on Your Plate as hyperbole or metaphor. For them, it is a literal truth. Down to the bone marrow in their vegan bones, they believe that KFC's cooking of chickens is morally equivalent to SS guards' herding of Auschwitz inmates into the showers. One can only imagine the future potential for demagogic advertisements should KFC's suppliers begin the gas slaughter of birds.

The whole thing is really good, though, so if you get a chance, please check it out. I've said time and again that these PETA folks make animal activism into a sad, scary joke, but, as you can see, they get "results." Radicals.

hln

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Scrappleface says it better I

I got an "URGH!" from reading this, (the "bad-blood-shrug-it-off murderer") so I set it aside at lunch to blog about it later.

But that Scott Ott of Scrappleface does a far better job than my ugly rant, so I'll read more this evening and write less.

hln

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No Rant

I've been ranting too much of late. Yesterday, I checked myself - almost blogged about crazy Susan Smith and her desire for prison pen pals. I refrained. Good Heather. I guess I could've varied my style and written her an open letter, but I'll save that for someone worth my time.

A couple of reflections here today, that's all.

One, have you noticed how often conjoined twins are in the news now? I swear, they're EVERYWHERE. While it's obviously very sad that Laleh and Ladan lost their battle to live separate lives (and life at all), now conjoined twins are all the rage. We've got a new pair in Greece. And before that we had an interview with other conjoined twins - joined at the stomach- who would not attempt separation surgery. We have doctors in Dallas readying themselves to separate another pair.

I'm certain there have always been conjoined twins and surgeries - but Ladan and Laleh's journey in adulthood to lead separate lives seems to really have led the media to near frenzy about this topic. And, truly, it is fascinating. It's something most of us will never see or come into contact with without he media. And we humans are certainly fascinated by things we do not understand.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Yeah, go Lance. It's almost anticlimactic, isn't it? I mean, in the background of the Tour de France, behind Lance and all of the hubbub, you have Tyler Hamilton, who is riding nearly the entire race with a FRACTURED COLLARBONE. Everyone, as a chorus, please exclaim, "OUCH!" and shudder in horror.

If you have not been on a bike lately, I'd like to remind you of a few biking things. One, your hands FEEL the road - every pothole, every pebble, every bit of gravel - they all jar the bike. If your hands feel the road, and you're on the bike for several hours a day, I can assure you, your collarbone FEELS the road.

This man has grit. What's the press say? I searched CNN for him. Nada. Piffle. I'll not bother with all that - what's he have to say?

You can always leave him a note.

hln

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We are "Wired" and not "Wireless" in the Home

We are "Wired" and not "Wireless" in the Home

Wireless seems such a painless and proper choice when you're looking at my house - two stories, a split-level ranch. But, soon after we bought the house, we took on (read: Brian wired, and Heather tried to help) the CAT5ing of the Noggle home.

I learned some new words that weekend. One of the ones I can repeat is PVC pipe.

Brian has always decried all things wireless (except stereos) because of the security risks they pose. It's nice to see a detailed article about this. Paranoia justified.

hln

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The consequences are threatening

The consequences are threatening

So says the one-page glossy sent to me from Traditional Values Coalition. Actually, it was sent to my address but listed a person named "King" as its intended recipient. Not me.

No website on the mailing, but, being the deviously clever human I am with Google access and a bit of deductive reasoning, I soon found it.

The subject of the mailing? Stop Todd Akin from voting for H.R. 2427. (Your mission, should you choose to accept it...).

The sideshows? Baby chewing on toy looking like, well, a baby; young woman eyeing a pack of pills as though she has a difficult decision to make. Baby in white light. Woman in brown light. Caption? "If H.R. 2427 becomes law, RU-486, the "abortion pill," may become as easy to get as aspirin.

Ooh, not shocking. This is a religious right (read faaaaaaaaaaaar right) organization that has the audacity to quote Jerry Falwell on its mailing as an expert about prescription drugs? I think that's like a walrus endorsing Frosted Flakes, no? Oh, goody, and my friend Tommy Thompson, the most rational human in the government health sector. His argument?

Opening our borders to reimported drugs potentially could increase the flow of conterfeit drugs, cheap foreign copies of FDA approved drugs, expired and contaminated drugs, and drugs stored under inappropriate and unsafe conditions.

Could not you people find someone who could proffer an argument stronger that "potentially could?"

And Falwell.

Drug importation is about much more than getting cheap prescriptions. It's also partially about easing access to abortion drugs like RU-486, euthanasia drugs, and "life extension" drugs of questionable merit and potentially harmful effect.

And what's this bill about really, you ask? Its true name is the Pharmaceutal Market Access Act of 2003. Funny, on a full-text search of the bill, the only time I see the letters "ru" are contained within the word drug.

The bill is not exceptionally interesting, as bills go. I read it all.

The far right scares me about as much as the far left. Both seem far too interested in saving Americans from themselves, vast conspiracies for or against [insert cause here] and achieving their agendas through means other than reason. And I just don't buy in.

hln

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Didn't Take Long...

...to find something about which to spew this evening.

Mayor John Robert Smith was speaking during the community service when Shirley Price stood and spoke: "Excuse me. Don't criticize this man. He was human too ... don't exclude him. He was a victim, too. ... He was a kind and loving human being."

Price broke into tears and left the church. Her boyfriend, Doug Williams, committed suicide after shooting 14 co-workers, killing five, at the Lockheed Martin aircraft parts plant Tuesday.

Uh, hello? Are you in there, Shirley Price? Or do you somehow think that life comes equipped with a pretty "Undo" button - Control-Z on the whole issue, and now only your beloved Doug Williams is dead and these fourteen people are at home with their families and untarnished flesh. Wrong. This man is a perpetrator. A perpetrator is not allowed status as a victim when he (here she goes - wince, please)

1) Suddenly left an employee ethics course and returned armed with weapons.

2) Opened fire on a room of unarmed people.

3) Left this room, his homicidal binge apparently unsatisfied, and proceeded to shoot others unfortunate enough to be in his proximity.

4) Took his own life.

(Facts from another CNN story).

These are actions, Shirley Price, and this man was THE cause of victimhood, his final acts in life an eruption of evil from which any shadow of good he might possibly have attained will never emerge. And he, a grown man, chose this. So chosen.

His circle of hell? He's making a spot for Chante Mallard down in Circle 7, Round 1. More boiling blood. I realize he could reside in Round 2 for the suicide, but encased in a tree is not nearly as unpleasant.

hln

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Obligatory Link to IMAO, July 9, 2003

Yes, here it is, just as requested.

Please visit IMAO today. It's Frank J's one-year anniversary of posting. I can only hope to be a quarter as popular as he on my one-year...not that I know when it is...

hln

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Verdict Soon: Does Heather Continue Continue to Indulge in Microwave Popcorn? Stay Tuned

Verdict Soon: Does Heather Continue to Indulge in Microwave Popcorn? Stay Tuned

I'm one of those freakazoids who watches everything she eats. No, really, you say? Shocker. Everyone's aware of the silly Oreo lawsuit about trans fatty acids. Trans fatty acids are in EVERYTHING - and I've been looking...for about a year.

Goodbye went the Wheat Thins (replaced with Kashi TLC.)

But I just can't give up the microwave popcorn...not just yet. Yes, I see it in the ingredient list - partially hydrogenated soybean oil. I figure, it's a treat, right? Soon, though, we will know how MUCH trans fatty acids grace my favorite once-in-a-while snack. And then I will decide whether to trade it in for a more harmless cousin. Here's why.

I like labels. They raise some awareness with people who are starting to watch what they eat, and every bit helps. With this solution, we shift no blame to the food producers; we merely ask them to state the facts, and then we make our decisions, as it should be.

hln

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Ewwwww!

Less overt than chocolate-covered ants, these food additives might surprise you.

Makes me want to abandon my lunch of Lean Cuisine pizza for something a lot less processed. I'm glad Fortune didn't do an article about the bacteria lounging on our food; we might pay attention to how hard our immune systems really do work every day.

hln

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KFC, Jason Alexander, Cruelty, PETA, and That Google Search "kfc tortures chickens"

Wow, how's that for an intro? I got the aforementioned hit yesterday afternoon at about 3:40 CST. Sorry I took so long to put up something relevant.

First, we have KFC's Animal (read: chicken - because mashed potatoes and biscuits aren't fauna) Welfare Policy.

Then, we have PETA and its lawsuit and a website dubbed KFC Cruelty.

And, because it wasn't interesting enough as it was, we have PETA nudging Jason Alexander out of his spokesperson role.

I bet all these things were what you were looking for, dude.

Now, what's the deal here? (Jason, you can go home now. Thanks. We're done discussing you). PETA, please sit in the corner and don't speak until addressed.

Let us drill down into KFC's website to the Poultry Welfare Guidelines (An Overview). This is obviously marketingspeak, as the "welfare" of the animal when it is delivered to KFC is, well, moot. But, the bit where it says it audits its suppliers, okay, I'll take heed now and pay attention to the presentation (below).

1. General
Supplier must have a documented program for animal welfare including a designated program leader, formal employee training, and a system of regular self-audits and recordkeeping. Corrective action for violations must be clearly stated and effective.

Birds arriving at the plant must be clean and in good health. If audit reveals dirty or sick birds, corrective action at the grow-out house must be taken.

2. Raising
KFC prohibits its suppliers from using growth-promoting substances, and requires its suppliers to raise birds in clean chicken houses with appropriate space and proper ventilation.

KFC prohibits suppliers from de-beaking any poultry that will be sold in our restaurants.

3. Catching
Birds arriving at the plant must be free of injury. KFC requires suppliers to implement an incentive program that rewards catching crews for minimizing injury if audit reveals that birds are being injured during the catching process.

4. Transport
Transport crates must be in good repair - i.e. no crate damage that would allow injury to birds or allow crates to accidentally open. Transport crates must not be over-filled and enough space must be provided to allow all birds to lie down.

5. Holding
Birds held in storage sheds must be provided adequate ventilation and climate control (fans/curtains).

6. Stunning
Stunning equipment must be maintained to ensure all birds are unconscious prior to slaughter, and the time between stunning and slaughter must be limited to ensure that no bird regains consciousness prior to slaughter.

7. Humane Slaughter
State of the art slaughter equipment must be properly maintained to ensure all birds are slaughtered quickly and without pain.

Okay - seven habits for highly effective bird growing and slaughter. And what does PETA have to say about this?

(From KFC Cruelty site

- A fisk of a fisk)

What follows are actual quotes from KFC.com, as displayed on January 1, 2003, shown in italics, coupled with PETAÂ’s responses.

Animal Treatment: Yum! Brands believes treating animals with care and respect is a key part of our quality assurance efforts. This means animals should be free from mistreatment at all times—from how they are raised and cared for to how they’re transported and processed. Our goal is to ensure an environment that’s free from cruelty, abuse and neglect.

We challenge anyone to review the treatment of chickens that PETA is addressing, none of which can be denied by KFC, and suggest that KFC is not cruel to chickens. From hatching to slaughter, KFCÂ’s chickens endure lives of unmitigated misery.

The science is totally clear on all the issues that PETA has raised; not only is Yum! ignoring the latest research on gas killing of chickens, broiler breeders, and the other issues that we raise, it has also done absolutely nothing to improve the lives of any other animals who are killed for its restaurants (e.g., fish for Long John Silver, or cattle, pigs, and dairy cows for Taco Bell, A&W, and Pizza Hut). As the most glaring example from among many, the latest research is clear on gestation crates, which were recently banned by voter initiative in Florida because of their excessive cruelty, yet Yum! does nothing about them.

Okay. Hello? Weren't we talking about KFC and its suppliers? I'm certain we were. (Checking website name...yep!). And those "many examples" of which you spoke - show me. Defend, justify, and explain.

Furthermore, cruelty to animals can be more subtle than overtly violent abuse. Denying animals the opportunity to act according to their natures can be even more cruel than harming them physically, and KFC denies chickens almost every natural desire and need—from foraging to dustbathing to forming reasonable social hierarchies (pecking orders).

Hmm - again, I thought we had issues with the suppliers. I assure you, there are not chickens running around Yum!'s corporate offices, and the only chickens to arrive through the store doors are quite assuredly dead, at which time they no longer have social hierarchies.

Partnership: Yum! Brands partners with experts on our Animal Welfare Council and our suppliers to implement humane procedures/guidelines and to audit our suppliers to ensure the guidelines are being met.

We challenge Yum! to name one—just one—procedure or guideline that it has implemented for the humane treatment of animals on farms or during transport. Animals spend the majority of their lives on farms, yet Yum! has not done a single thing to address the treatment of animals in that area. Yum!’s supposed “guidelines” address only the slaughterhouse, and even there they are woefully inadequate. The birds are dumped from crates, often breaking limbs, and their injured legs are snapped painfully into metal shackles. Animal welfare experts are in agreement that chickens are often conscious throughout the slaughter process, resulting in the tremendous suffering of millions from being shocked by machinery, having their throats cut, and being scalded alive. Yet Yum!’s guidelines protect birds from none of these abuses, and Yum! refuses to adopt the gas killing of birds, which would eliminate them all.

You know, I acutally asked a coworker how chickens are humanely killed on farms, and he said, "you wring their necks." Now, I'll argue that a slaughterhouse is most likely the saddest place in this country. I still don't see any direct examples of when these horrible injustices were perpetrated on birds 277 and 293. Where's the evidence, PETA?

More than half of all chickens killed for KFC are consumed outside of the United States, yet KFC has not said a single thing about applying any animal welfare standards outside the U.S., despite the implication that its standards apply to all suppliers. Yum! also claims that its suppliers are being audited, but we ask whether a single audit has ever resulted in disciplinary action. If not, might the reason be that Yum!’s “standards” are, in fact, simply the same abusive status quo that has been in existence for years?

EVIDENCE! Please! I want to believe you - my bleeding-heart animal-loving self (yeah, I have some liberal components to my conservative nature) wants to believe that if an organization is going to claim outrage, it can logically back its claims. Sigh - mere rhetoric and a wimpy challenge.

Performance Quantification & Follow-up: Yum! BrandsÂ’ animal welfare guidelines are specific and quantifiable. Yum! Brands measures performance against these guidelines through audits of our suppliers and ensures that all purchasing strategies are aligned with our commitment to animal welfare.

If Yum! has “specific and quantifiable” guidelines, then why has no one ever seen them? This is Yum!’s most clearly duplicitous claim. Without written copies of these guidelines available to the public, how can Yum! expect anyone to believe that they exist? And again, what supplier has ever been sanctioned for violations?

Yeah, I know that tactic - it's called instill doubt with big, sweeping, general accusations.

To assist us in [our] effort, Yum! Brands formed the Yum! Brands Animal Welfare Advisory Council, which consists of highly regarded experts in the field. The Council provides us with advice and recommendations based on key data and scientific research. It has been a key factor in formulating Yum! Brands animal welfare program. Members of our Council include: • Dr. Temple Grandin, Colorado State University • Dr. Ian Duncan, Dept. of Animal & Poultry Science, University of Guelph, Ontario • Dr. Joy Mench, Director of the Center for Animal Welfare, U. of Cal., Davis • Adele Douglass, Ex. Dir., Farm Animal Services, American Humane Association • Dr. Bruce Webster, The University of Georgia • Ellis Brunton, Senior VP of Science & Regulatory Affairs, Tyson Foods • Dr. Jim Ayres, Director of Research & Quality Assurance, Goldkist, Inc

It is true that KFC has hired some people that PETA suggested, specifically Dr. Temple Grandin, Dr. Joy Mench, and Dr. Ian Duncan, as well as farmed-animal expert Adele Douglass, for its animal welfare panel. But even as Dr. Mench writes papers on the suffering of broiler breeders, KFC does nothing; even as Dr. Duncan discusses the inherent abuse of present slaughter methods, KFC does nothing, and so on. In two years, the panel has held three conference calls—not because the animal welfare panelists are unwilling to improve bird welfare, but more likely because KFC and the industry panelists are not willing.

Ellis Brunton and. Jim Ayres work for the exploiters, not the reformers. One naysayer on any committee can slow or totally stifle progress. The inclusion on the panel of representatives of the chicken-killing industry—the very industry that has claimed, always, that no reform is required—shows that KFC’s efforts are not likely to move quickly or effectively. This has been borne out by 21 months of work resulting in less progress for chickens than has been achieved by McDonald’s, Burger King, or Wendy’s and no progress on decreasing suffering for any other animal.

More broad bushstrokes and naming names. I mean, come on, PETA, Yum! supplied the names for you, so don't hoot and holler that you actually got some objective evidence in a paragraph of your diatribe. Again, disappointing set of paragraphs if one is looking to substantiate a claim.

Yum! Brands Animal Welfare Progress: Established the Yum! Brands Animal Welfare Advisory Council to help formalize our animal welfare program. The Council, which consists of leading scientists and academics in the field of animal welfare, works with Yum! Brands and its suppliers to ensure our practices are aligned with the latest research and thinking in the field of animal welfare.

As discussed above, the science is totally clear on all the issues that PETA has raised; not only is Yum! ignoring the latest research on gas killing of chickens, broiler breeders, and the other issues that we have addressed, it has also done nothing to improve the lives of fish for Long John Silver or cattle, pigs, and dairy cows for Taco Bell, A&W, and Pizza Hut. As the most glaring example, the latest research is clear on gestation crates, which were recently banned by voter initiative in Florida because of their excessive cruelty, yet Yum! does nothing about them. The company is ignoring, rather than aligning its practices with, the latest research and thinking in the field of animal welfare.

Damn! There it is again! Reductio ad absurdum! Were we not discussing chicken? The perils of copy...paste.

It's a lot of blah blah blah from here.

I'm certain PETA has some valid claims - after all, in the scheme of things, mass produced dinner animals probably have short, rotten, painful lives. It's too bad PETA can't synthesize the reality from the rhetoric into a stronger argument that rational America could digest and perhaps rally behind.

Incidentally, and off topic, I took a graduate class in Persuasive Attack and Defense. What we have here is PETA issuing a kategoria, an attack. Theoretically, if this attack actually damages KFC's reputation (in the company's eyes), what will take place next is the Image Restoration stage, strategies of which include denial, evading responsibility, reducing offensiveness, corrective action, and mortification (asking for forgiveness), or any mixture of these. KFC can also attack its accuser, shift the blame, focus on other issues, or redefine the attack. Glad I kept Dr. Benoit's book, Accounts, Excuses, and Apologies for handy reference in times like these. (And, of course, I'm horribly oversimplifying).

hln

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