4.12.2009

Kenny, Kenny, Kenny



It wasn't as bad as Greg Norman's infamous 1995 melt-down where he squandered a six-shot lead heading into the final round of the Masters and lost to Nick Faldo, but today was still pretty bad. (CBS Sports)

Tea Time


As the April 15 deadline for filing income tax returns in the United States approaches, conservatives across the country, in the alleged spirit of the 1773 Boston Tea Party, where American colonists protested against taxation by the British government without representation by dumping a bunch of tea in Boston Harbor, are holding "tea bag" parties to criticize the Obama administration's plan to boost tax rates on wealthy Americans to bring some semblance of progressiveness and reason to the American tax system. Fox News has been pushing the rallies big time. Other media outlets, meanwhile, are having a field day exposing the hypocrisy of the movement (Huffington Post), and cracking up about the protesters self-designation as tea-baggers. (Urban Dictionary)

Sea kittens?!?!?


During some before-bed web-wandering last night, I bumbled across a PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) campaign to get people to stop eating fish. Or, rather :"Sea Kittens", as PETA has re-branded them. "Because nobody would hurt a Sea Kitten," says PETA.

As far as I can tell the campaign was launched last fall in Europe then swam it's bubble-eyed way to North America in January. Here's some news links on it: one from the Telegraph, another from the Calgary Herald (actually the Canwest wire service) and this critical piece in The Economist.

My take? It's a goofy and misguided campaign but it's kind of charming, too. Well, to fish-eating me, anyway. And given the world's current well-documented problems with insane, out-of-control over-fishing, what the hell, why not try to get people eating fewer fish in favour of a vegetarian diet?

In other PETA-related news, the band Pet Shop Boys are not going to change their name to "Rescue Shelter Boys", as PETA requested.

(Sea kitten artwork copyright PETA)