OT: US Media Madness

[Targan]

During a US TV news broadcast Erin Burnett, CNBC Anchor has suddenly launched into a personal attack on Kevin Rudd, Australian Prime Minister to accuse him of being a serial killer of camels.

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/world/846...ler-us-tv-host

What the hell is this crazy bitch on about? Air strikes against camels? I gather that she is referring to the practice of aerial culling where marksmen shoot animals from helicopters.

Here is the deal: camels are not native to Australia, they are a feral animal and a major pest. When camel numbers get too high they cause major damage to fragile desert ecosystems. When Burnett says the milk and meat from the camels will be wasted she clearly has no idea of the logistics involved. Have you guys seen the size of Australia's deserts? There is NO PRACTICAL WAY to muster tens of thousands of feral camels thousands of kilometers away from civilization and somehow farm them. It would be literally impossible to take freezer trucks and mobile abbatoirs into the VAST AUSTRALIAN DESERT to butcher the carcasses.

This Burnett seems to me to have that horrible combination of ignorance and outspokenness. The Australian and American people are great friends and allies and I am stunned that an American media personality would launch a personal (and defamatory) attack on Australia's PM like this. I don't normally condone violence against women but could one of you guys in the US please give that crazy biatch a slap for me if you see her? Thanks.

[headquarters]

..I think you might have just seen the hump of the camel yet ...

[headquarters]

how many camels do you guys have anyways ?

is there a commercial side to the camels down under ?

from time to time a media personality will blurt out something or other like the camel commentary there .

I remember when we were "under siege" for our whaling .All sorts of people popped out of the wood work and demonized us in increasingly ludicrous ways -most were in the American media cycle.

( It didnt matter that indigenous people in the US killed around 50 % more whales than our fleet did in the same span of time - we really were a stalinist /socialist eco hating sentient mammal killing breed of squareheads no matter what we said .Still today some Hollywood face with a hankering to get some press turn up at our embassy in DC from time to time with a film crew and a manifest against whaling -even if moratoriums have been placed up here -oh well..luckily the attention span of the news consumer is around 0,5 minutes after the last audio visual input-it will all die down with time .)

Now- if anyone think ill of what I have written I have to say I love sea mammals and see no point in hunting them ,as long as economic compensation etc is put in place..But someplaces its tradition you know ?

Incidentally - I guess everyone gets it from time to time -its the way of the news.

[Targan]

Originally Posted by headquarters

how many camels do you guys have anyways ?

is there a commercial side to the camels down under ?

We have heaps of camels in Australia and yes they are a commercial resource. I've mentioned on this forum before about how Australia actually exports camels to the Middle East for racing because Australian camels are not affected by many of the diseases that camels get in other parts of the world and our camels are apparently very strong and fast. There is also a small camel meat industry here, both for pet meat and for human consumption.

But the culling program being put in place by the Australian Government is for a very good reason - there are far too many camels in some parts of the country and they are causing a lot of damage. Australia's deserts are like many other deserts - very dry for years or decades and then the rains come. After a a year with good rains the camel numbers explode, then when there is no water again the camels get increasingly desperate and either strip all vegetation bare or die slow, miserable deaths from starvation and/or dehydration.

[StainlessSteelCynic]

2005 reports of camel numbers here estimated 500 000+ feral camels but likely much more due to some locations being too remote for the census teams to access.
The 2001 survey in the Northern Territory stated in excess of 200 000 in thast area alone, the NT has approximately 25% of Australia's feral camel population so total numbers are likely to be closer to 1 million

[Targan]

Thanks Stainless. That reinforces even more that that Burnett woman is an idiot.

[kato13]

Originally Posted by Targan

This Burnett seems to me to have that horrible combination of ignorance and outspokenness. The Australian and American people are great friends and allies and I am stunned that an American media personality would launch a personal (and defamatory) attack on Australia's PM like this. I don't normally condone violence against women but could one of you guys in the US please give that crazy biatch a slap for me if you see her? Thanks.

The US media made a huge deal about Sarah Palin's support of aerial hunting. So it is not an anti Australia thing.

[Targan]

Originally Posted by kato13

The US media made a huge deal about Sarah Palin's support of aerial hunting. So it is not an anti Australia thing.

But was that sport hunting or the hunting of feral animals for ecological reasons? Not that I'm against sport hunting (if the meat will be eaten and the species being hunted are not endangered) but they are two very different issues.

[kato13]

It was not for sport hunting. It was defined as "predator management". Of course there are people on both sides of the argument of whether it has ecological value.

[weswood]

You'll have to ignore American news reporters. They're so "politically correct" they don't just report news anymore, they have to spin it. It disgust me so much, I can't even watch the news on TV.

[General Pain]

Originally Posted by weswood

You'll have to ignore American news reporters. They're so "politically correct" they don't just report news anymore, they have to spin it. It disgust me so much, I can't even watch the news on TV.

Yeah...I try to stay away from the spindoctors in the media bizniz, TV beeing the worst of them...If I need any news ...I read this forum...

[pmulcahy11b]

Well I've always thought that the animals are not in our neighborhoods -- we are moving into the animals' neighborhood. And then people complain! It's like if you move next to the airport, then complain about the noise!

As for Sarah Palin -- don't get me started.

The real media madness in this country is all the coverage about Michael Jackson. That story should stick to Entertainment Tonight. On CNN about two weeks ago (10 days after Michael Jackson's death), Nancy Grace made an interesting commentary. She said, "Let's put Michael Jackson's death into perspective," then she read off a list of about a dozen Marines. Then she said, "All these Marines have lost their lives in Afghanistan since Michael Jackson's death."

[Targan]

Originally Posted by pmulcahy11b

The real media madness in this country is all the coverage about Michael Jackson. That story should stick to Entertainment Tonight. On CNN about two weeks ago (10 days after Michael Jackson's death), Nancy Grace made an interesting commentary. She said, "Let's put Michael Jackson's death into perspective," then she read off a list of about a dozen Marines. Then she said, "All these Marines have lost their lives in Afghanistan since Michael Jackson's death."

Right on Paul. I couldn't agree more.