Foul Putrid News Organization

There is only sadness and bile from the L.A. Times today. First, we discover that the sale of glow-in-the-dark zebra fish will be banned in California because the Fish and Game Commissioners think genetic engineering is yucky (though they make an exception for "non-frivolous" purposes such as medicine and fattening Monsanto's pocketbook). No, seriously, that's the reason; they weren't concerned about safety at all, if the article has it right.

Imagine what an awful place California would be if these people had jurisdiction over boob jobs and doggie prozac. Tinkering with nature for frivolous purposes makes the capitalism go round! And if you believe the GloFish web site, the fishes (they glow!) were developed for legitimate scientific purposes. But let's return to the topic sentence: why are five guys (for they are all men!), appointed for their specialized skills in wildlife management, allowed to pass binding judgment on matters of bioethics?

Answer: we can't hold a plebiscite on the issue until March. Until then, I'm'a write my elected representatives, and maybe my appointed ones as well. I don't wants me some fishies, but I wants me the theoretical ability to purchas fishies. Also, Calpundit's coverage of the issue will attract a larger audience and more commenters, if you're into that sort of thing.

The second sad and bilious thing was actually two things: phone calls from the L.A. Times trying to interest me in some sort of "offer", spaced about an hour apart. The second one was some guy who had obviously not been telemarketing very long, because he couldn't keep his aplomb when I cut him off and asked to be added to the do-not-call list. He insisted that he was just calling all the new entries to the phone book, and therefore there was no list, and anyway this "offer" was not a sales pitch, it was too fantastic! I hung up.

In retrospect, this is as irritating as a gross failure to get the hint when you're being flirted with, only to retroactively catch on when you've gone home and are lonely. I wish they'd call a third time so I could collect all the necessary information to get a free $500 if they ever offer me an "offer" ever again. Any ideas I may once have had concerning a Sunday subscription to the L.A. Times have been ground to dust under the heel of an aggressive marketing campaign.

yami · 21:11 · 4 Dec 2020

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