How business, doctors and journalists prey on your food anxieties I

1
God <strong>and</strong> man ~
in Japan Rupert
RELtGioN-or ~ soRT-seems to be ~ mrupeel<strong>and</strong>
making a comeback in Japan . Aum ~ BctrulNGA Gi.oB .at media empire
Shin :ikvn, t7ev of dic goaon gas, can l<strong>and</strong> eou in some touch}° situagct
the ink, but os'er 100 nessfaiths tions . On Rupert Alurdoeh's 100%-
are being formed ecen%earabout
one esen, diree daN °s, accord- ~ ago Aslwk Rosr Kavi, an Indian ho-
osvned Star-n' neinN ork rn'o months
ing to the go~entme:t's cultural moseaual rights actis-ist, called JIahatma
G<strong>and</strong>hi a "bastard Ga :ria"-
affairs agency . Happy Science,
fot:nded nine years ago b' v a former thc latter \Nord a dcragatonterm for
office «•orkcr at a general trading the merchant caste into x~hich the
compam , is the largest ol the netie independence leader was born . Tushar
G<strong>and</strong>hi, the saintly politician's
sects, oith 5 million members . But
nhere .Yum Shinrikso is chaucinistic,
Happy Science offers to etnbrace b4urdoch's Star -,-~ nen . ork for oser
great-gr<strong>and</strong>son, threatened to sue
all ot mankind <strong>and</strong> even the universe
. Is deities include Buddha, bailable «arrant reporzdly requir-
S 15 miilion . An Indian court issued a
Zeus, Jesus Christ <strong>and</strong> a space-tra - ing Murdoch to post 5,000 rupees
eiing giant called El Kantare .
(S161) to guarantee the media mogul's
appearance in court . The atiair
<
gave yet another excuse for some
members of the Indian parliament to
carn, on about the supposed dangers
ofcultural imperialism sia the
form of foreign media .
News Corp .'s Rupert Murdoch
A legal hassle in India ;
a touchdown in Los Angeles .
~
Drop-lcicking L .A .
Ltx ANc,E[-ES fans are notoriotu for
neglecting their honietmrn sports .
Ther see, are seen, <strong>and</strong> then lca\ e
at halltinte So sshen the National
Football League's L .A . Rams
moved to St . Louis earlier this rear,
follo" cd bv toe planned defcction
of the L .A . Raiders to Oaklar.d . ehe
mation's second-lareest telecision
markct suddenlc found' itselftootbali-Icss
.
But Rupert \turdoch's Fox tti<strong>and</strong>
General Electric's NBC, rvhidt
jointle own the rights to Sunday
ahernoon coceragc,couldn'tlracc
cared less . Local ratings for the
lousv Rams <strong>and</strong> mediocre Raidcrs
N%cre, Well, lousy ;md mediocre, but
the net«orks vore co ;rtracruallv oblig,ued
to show the local teallis'
gamcs . Since the cirino longer has a
local team, the nem orks can no«oftcr Los Angelenos something better
than their oA', n lackluster former
football reams .
Additionally, some NFL fine print,
~chich forbids broadcasting games
u~hen the odter netsvork is sho«ing
a local team, no ionger applies, meaning
Fox <strong>and</strong> Nec can tclcvisc rouagr
Ir S0".6 more games in Los Angeles .
Yet another boost : Ruings in the
more partisan, tbotball-starled rosvns
o : St . Louis <strong>and</strong> Oakl<strong>and</strong> are expected
to soar .2.ll in all, looks like a touchdo«n
for NIurdoch <strong>and</strong> c~ .
Safety last
A coert_ OF ~ ears ago Greyhound
announced it was going to spend $5
million to equip its 1,500 buses
with rudar, as a safen ° decice to alert
dri vers to unseen obstacles . Yet anotherway
technologr was Qoina to
make the roads safer . Aosr Greyhuund
s pulling the equipment ourof
its buses. It scems the gadgets
causcd a svorse s:tfet~problcm than
am° thcv might have solacd . It turns
out tltce bus r dan «ould set off radar
detec`ors' l pasCinQ autos lFhOSC
drisers 1 ad placed the equipment on
the ftoor to hide it ti'om the cups .
Sct du eccuc : Joe Drivcr has just
floored his ear to pass the Gre}-
hound bus . He is starting to s%ring
back into the tirst I :mc \shen his
radar detector heeps . He>huns on his
brakes, in front of the bus . The bus
drher slams on his brakes . You gct the
picau e .
The accident
finally happened
Tiir iani~[ t rat First Capit,il
\cho lost mnrc than S 130 million ot
the 520 billion Comiaon Fund has
triggered laresuits <strong>and</strong> .m im estigatiun
btdie Securities 8, Ezchanvc
Commissiorn .
18
9 f. j .~ : .~ J n+-y r' Fonccs . August 14 . 1995
!.~ V=2ii?l 4h
http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/agf97d00/pdf