Posted on 05/20/2006 6:57:38 AM PDT by the invisib1e hand
Google, whose founders reportedly drive Prius gas-electric cars and have invested in alternative energy, is now taking a stand for animal rights.
The company will announce that its cafeterias will serve only eggs from cage-free hens, according to an article in the San Jose Mercury News on Thursday. That's no small matter; the company serves about 300,000 eggs a year to about 6,000 employees a year, the article said.
"Animal rights groups urged the switch, noting that at many large farms, six or more hens are confined in a single wire cage," the newspaper reported. "For 12 to 18 months they cannot flap their wings or forage for food, and egg industry guidelines require only 67 square inches of space for each bird to live out its life--an area two-thirds the size of a sheet of notebook paper."
The company's global food services manager says he hopes Google's move will encourage others to act to ensure humane treatment of animals. However, Google does occasionally buy veal, he says.
Google is in good company. A company that manages cafeterias for Yahoo, Oracle and Cisco announced late last year it would buy eggs only from cage-free hens and America Online followed suit last month, the article said.
So, hang on to your wallet and keep your eyes peeled.
Slow news day.
Wanna hear something interesting? When I sailed recently on the USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) their entire coffee market had been bought by Starbucks. Yes, the Navy is now serving Starbucks coffee aboard their carriers. Seriously, the galley had a Starbucks bar!
Ah, you're a serviceman then
Well, let me express my gratitude for your service and salute you!
I'm sure the coyotes, fox, dogs, cats and Snuffy Smith will be glad to hear this.
If nothing else, free-range chickens and cane sugar drinks (do they exist outside of Mexico?) just taste better. Eggs used to have a strong flavor instead of the bland, washed out color and taste they have now.
Mass production has made eggs, chickens and corn syrup cheap, but much of the taste is gone. Many folks aren't old enough to know what such food did taste like. And this isn't selective memory either. It really hit me once I drank a cane sugar Coke in Mexico--it was just like a sudden scent or taste that takes you back to your childhood.
We once waylaid a shipment of steaks and lobster tails off of a reefer going upriviver to Saigon and then on to some army general's mess.
The investigative heat was intense for a week or two, but then it was back to business as usual.
It's nobody's business but theirs. 'Activism' is trying to make other people conform; making decisions about what they're going to do internally, on the other hand, is merely policy. They have the same right to do it as restaurants do to permit or prohibit smoking.
"Corporate activism" is Fabian socialism. If you don't get that, close your trap and get back to your studies.
And the cafeteria at the Coffee Exchange (part of the New York Board of Trade) serves Starbucks, as well. From big thermoses. Does it get tackier than that? In NY, "I say, of course it does."
I always say, "small," "medium," or "large."
...but I'll bet you say, "tall" when you really mean "small." ;)
I should add my "hear, hear" to this. I didn't realize this post was to you.
Now, back to animal issues. Barbaro crashed; there is someone shooting cats with a pellet gun in Darien, Ct. That's something a person could get a little upset about.
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