ANOTHER FRIDAY...

Another 92 tons of bad beef recalled - not for the suspicion of E.Coli but for a documented illness linked to these Georgia-based ground beef patties. And yet - show of hands - how many of you had heard about this before coming here? Thought so.

PHILLY ZOO BATTLE HEATS UP

Advocates for elephants are gearing up for a major campaign against the proposed expansion of the Philadelphia Zoo's pachyderm exhibit, and have already started leafletting and protesting at the zoo. This Inquirer story is typical mainstream coverage, essentially ignoring the basic issues the activists are raising and diverting the discussion to how much the zoo loves and cares for the elephants. And classically, it ends with the as-ever-unproven trope that such displays "educate the public and create empathy for wildlife" - sorry, Pete, what was your peer-reviewed source on that again?

WHAT KIND OF WORKPLACE...

... would tolerate this kind of inhuman abuse in the 21st century?

African Americans were routinely abused and a "whites only" sign was pinned to the lavatory door. Tyson Foods is accused by 13 workers of maintaining a segregated system in a break area at one of its plants in Ashland, Alabama, that was "reminiscent of the Jim Crow era". In addition to the posting of the "whites only" sign, the workers allege that the lavatory was padlocked and only white workers were given a key, that workers hung a noose in one of the recreation rooms and annotated a picture of monkeys with the names of black staff. When the workers complained, they say the plant manager told them the facilities had been locked because they were "nasty, dirty [and] behaved like children".

Yes, that's right, the kind of workplace where the work itself is inhuman. Just a coincidence, I guess...

UNLUCKY SEVEN

I made a promise to myself that I wasn't going to do anything on this purported Idaho CJD cluster until there were seven people in the area who had died. Well... "State health officials say a northern Idaho woman may be the seventh person to die in 2005 of Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease, a fatal brain-wasting illness that robs people of their ability to control body movements or even speak before it swiftly kills them. Kathy Isenberg, 53, died Sept. 5 at the Kootenai Medical Center in Coeur d'Alene. In May, she became unsteady on her feet, said Jonathan Isenberg, her husband. By mid-August, she was in wheelchair and needed 24-hour care. She spoke her last words -- 'I love you' -- to her husband on Aug. 31, he said."

VEGCAST #3

It's here! The third Vegcast features our first book review - expanded from the version below - of the book Vegan Freak, plus a soundseeing tour of Chinatown in Philadelphia where there are four vegan restaurants within a very short walk. Also included is a Science Fact dealing with antioxidants and mainstream journalism, and music from Heidi Howe and Green Beings.