Why all our pigs are having a ball (I am not making this up)

The Times of London ^ | 1/29/03 | Valerie Elliott

[IowaHawk]

Ah, the Eurosophisticates; enriching the world with laughter.

[BillyBonebrake]

"The more corrupt the republic, the more numerous the laws" -Tacitus

[Interesting Times]

Somewhere out there in cyberspace, the writers for The Onion are snarling and breaking pencils.

[alisasny]

Please tell us this is a joke...please : )

[azhenfud]

Headline From BELGIUM

All your pigs' balls are belong to us...

[Snowy]

This is funny! Pigs are very smart and do not deserve the dirty reputation that they currently have. They are very clean animals if left to their own devices. This of the marketing opportunities! You have 'free range chicken', and now you can buy 'happy ham'!

[Rain-maker]

Playtime before slaughter? Methinks the Belgians beer has been spiked.

[DuncanWaring]

I actually read a brief article in a trade magazine, possibly "Machine Design", roughly 15 years ago, about someone who had come up with a ball intended specifically for this purpose.

It was some sort of semi-rigid plastic, with a removable plug allowing the ball to be filled with either water or sand.

[Snowy]

This=Think

[mg39]

This is the right thing to do. Pigs are more intelligent than dogs. There is no excuse not to treat them humanely, especially before they are killed to feed people.

[Linwood]

Brought to you by the same geniuses who think we should sing kumbayah with the budding Hitler of the Middle East, because some of the oppressed people in his country (who would dearly love to be rid of him) might get hurt if we don't...

[MadIvan]

It's not the April 1 edition, so I dare say it's true. But you know, bureaucrats don't live in the real world. Euro-bureaucrats obviously have one too many drinks at lunch.

Regards, Ivan

[martianagent]

Sounds like a reasonable scheme for dealing with democrats...

[momofsixgirls]

Is this what is wrong with Sadam? He needs more balls to play with? (Thick sarcasm)

[Tacis]

"Why all our pigs are having a ball"

This is a truly offensive headline!! Sure, many Belgian women are good looks deprived, but that is not reason to call them ALL pigs.

I don't know. Putting a ball in the pigsty might lead to excesive competition that could lead to violence.

To amuse the pigs, it would be much better to tell farcical anecdotes about the integrity, intelegence, and bribeability of Eurinal politicians and bureaucrats and the mistresses that they keep.

[elbucko]

It seems as if Title IX has been extended to the U.K.

[-YYZ-]

I tend to agree. Some people here seem to think that treating livestock any better than inanimate objects is a complete cave-in to the PETA crowd. Me, I'd just like to think that my supper was treated humanely when it was still alive.

Speaking of pigs, something I've noticed that bothers me is the pigs being trucked to the slaughterhouse just down the road. Now the fact that these pigs are experiencing their last few hours before death is a little disquieting (face it, most of us do not see much connection between our meat and the animals they come), but I can live with it. What does bother me is seeing pigs being transported in metal-sided trailers (with lots of openings to the air) in -20C (-5 F) temperatures. I understand pigs need heated accomodations at those kind of temperatures, so I'm guessing they probably suffer some (more than usual) discomfort being transported in such temperatures.

[OXENinFLA]

Pardon me while I pick my JAW up off the floor.

[Right Wing Professor]

You win a few....

You lose a few.

[mg39]

I agree completely. If people treated dogs and cats that way, they'd be thrown in prison, and rightly so.