_obsK._2_ mailing-list update; and :>oug's veggie cats brouhaha

[IED0DXM%OAC.UCLA.EDU@mitvma.mit.edu]

 To: Love-Hounds
 From: IED
 Subject: _obsK._2_ mailing-list update; and Doug's veggie cats brouhaha

     Here is the latest list. IED has received a total of 28 orders
so far:

     1. Scott Crumpton    $ 6.50 + $2.00
     2. Stephen Carter    $ 8.50
     3. Mark Semich       $ 6.50
     4. Stephen Tynor     $ 6.50
   5/6. Peter F. Hill     $13.00 (2 orders, P.M.O.)
     7. James Mathiesen   $ 8.50
     8. Tracy L. Roberts  $ 8.50
     9. Michael Mendelson $10.00 (cash)
    10. John Relph        $ 6.50
    11. Julian West       $ 6.50
    12. Pete Hartman      $ 6.50
    13. Peter Shirley     $10.00
    14. Maitland Bottoms  $ 6.50
    15. Carol Kulik       $ 8.50
    16. Rod Armstrong     $ 6.50
 17/18. Sam Bell          $13.00 (2 orders)
    19. Garry Berg        $10.00
    20. Ben Fine          $ 6.50
    21. A. J. Kok         $10.00
    22. Mike Whitman      $ 6.50
    23. John Precedo      $10.00
    24. Laura Clifford    $ 6.50
    25. Nancy Everson     $ 6.50
    26. Tamar Newberger   $ 6.50
    27. Robert Rice       $ 6.50
    28. Mikki Waucomont   $10.00

     Several of the above have expressed bemusement and/or consternation
over the fact that orders for copies have not been coming in faster than
they have. IED has no explanation to give. He is himself amazed that this
group numbers so few truly serious enthusiasts of Kate Bush's work. It
is a depressing but unignorable fact that the large majority of the
readers/contributors to Love-Hounds are not even sufficiently involved
in the One True God to go to the minimal trouble of packing off an
order for these recordings.
     Twice in the past the question of Kate's diet-policies in relation
to her cats has been raised (by our Pseudo-Moderator :>oug). It was
contended that Kate's willingness to feed fish to her cats might consti-
tute a hypocritical act, since it apparently flew in the face of her
avowed vegetarian convictions. The first time IED promptly disagreed,
both because Kate's own diet shouldn't be confused with her cats' diet;
and because cats, unlike humans, are not ominvorous animals, but are by
nature carnivores. This response apparently made little impression on
:>oug, since he recently raised the issue again, and implied the same
criticism of Kate which he had made the first time.
     The question was raised in the Science Times section of the _New_
_York_Times_ a couple of weeks ago. Here is the excerpt in its entirety:

     Q.: Could a healthy vegetarian diet be devised for cats?

     A.: "Definitely not," said Prof. James Morris of the Department
of Physiological Science at the School of Veterinary Medicine of the
University of California at Davis.
     A vegetable-based diet could be devised, he said, but only if
some chemical reagents and animal fats were added to it. That is
because cats cannot synthesize some of the essential fatty acids
found in animal fat.
     "For example, plants have virtually none of an amino acid called
taurine," he said. "Taurine deficiency results in blindness and loss of
hearing, dilated cardiomyopathy, grave retardation in kittens and the
birth of kittens with developmental abnormalities."

     Let's hope that puts an end once and for all to the aspursions
which :>oug has cast on Kate's policy regarding Pye and Co.'s diet of
"fishy-wishy".

-- Andrew Marvick