KILLER CATS

Sure, it was funny when Monty Python did it, but not in real life.

Well, OK, it's kind of funny in real life too. In this case, unlike with the puppies, the guy wasn't trying to shoot the animal, but it's all too apparent that the animals are now looking out for each other and fighting back on a worldwide level. Besides, the man was cooking at the time, and I'll lay you ten-to-one odds that it wasn't tofu he was fryin' up. Maybe that pushed the cat over the edge, and likewise the cat did to the gun?

MAD COW MAKES VEGANISM A PRIORITY

I recall explaining to someone back when the beef-in-McDonalds-fries thing broke in 2001 that Mad Cow was going to change the way people looked at product ingredients, and people were going to become more like vegans, checking for the absence of bad stuff. It's not only true for food but cosmetics and the like, and now one company is trumpeting its development of a meat-free drug base: "Oxoid has launched a new meat-free culture medium to serve what it says is a growing demand by pharmaceutical companies for non-animal-derived materials for use in pharmaceutical production. Companies making drugs have been trying to reduce the use of animal products in the production environment because of the risk that these materials may carry the agents that cause transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs), such as mad cow disease and variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob diseases (vCJD) in humans."

MILK'S 'STRONG BONES' BROKEN

Check this out, man! The Washington Times says: "Milk and dairy products do not promote healthy bones in kids and young adults, a Washington-based research group found after analyzing 58 studies." It continues with an explanation of the "calcium paradox:" "Though Americans are some of the world's highest consumers of dairy products, U.S. rates of osteoporosis and bone fracture also are among the world's highest." This is noteworthy because the research was released by PCRM, and has made a nice-sized splash in the national media, with multiple write-ups occupying the "Health" box of Google News for over 24 hours. Plus, although many of the treatments "balanced" PCRM's peer-reviewed research (it appears in the reputable journal Pediatrics) with dissent from such unbiased parties as the National Dairy Councill and Rick Berman's Conspicuous Consumption Foundation, one that reported it straight up, no chaser was... yes, the Washington Times. What a world.

Also, thanks to a CCF-rebutting press release from PCRM I learned that the oft-cited "censure" of the group from the AMA is not only wrongly reported, but has been recanted by the AMA itself, essentially averring that new scientific evidence has proven its old position wrong and PCRM right. Read it.

CONNECTICUT CONSIDERS CIRCUS ELEPHANT BAN

Note that the main argument is human safety rather than the cruelty inherent in forcing elephants to travel town-to-town and do silly tricks. But whatever the motivation, a ban is a ban. "The legislation before lawmakers, proposed by state Reps. Steven Fontana, D-North Haven, and Diana Urban, R-North Stonington, would prohibit the use of elephants in traveling shows, theatrical exhibitions and circuses that come to the state. A similar bill has been proposed in Massachusetts."