LAZINESS AT THE LOS ANGELES TIMES
THE LOS ANGELES TIMES PUBLISHED THIS EDITORIAL yesterday. I realize the point of the editorial was to poke fun at the sometimes lack of serious news in summer, but the editorial makes a flippant remark that illustrates ignorance and laziness by the editorial staff.

A section of the editorial reads, “October and November have always been very bad months to be a deer in Wisconsin. This year, add August. State, uh, experts--creating a cure without a recovery--ordered the extraordinary slaughter of 25,000 deer because some might have contagious chronic wasting disease. Feel better?”

Contrary to what the editorial staff wrote, this is a serious issue in Wisconsin. Chronic wasting disease in deer is similar to mad cow disease. The entire deer population in the state is at risk of becoming infected. If the Times staff had bothered to do even a tiny bit of research on the subject, they would see how serious this is and how much information is readily available. THE MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL HAS OVER 100 ARTICLES available to the public on its website.

The editorial ends with the quip, “But after today, we can no longer talk about such things.” Maybe after today, the Los Angeles Times will start taking its writing and research seriously, too.