Peta

McDonald's Corp., the world's largest restaurant chain and one of the largest buyers of chicken, is considering requiring its processors to use a more humane method for slaughtering poultry. The hamburger chain said yesterday that it is studying a slaughtering method known as controlled-atmosphere killing, a U.S. Department of Agriculture-approved process that kills chickens by slowly replacing oxygen with argon or nitrogen in the air they breathe. The chickens quickly go to sleep. The company said that some of its European suppliers already are using the newer method, which replaces one in which chickens, hanging from a moving conveyer line, are pulled through a vat of water that is charged with electricity.

Tonight's an abbreviated show due to the presidential debate. Four couples will do their individual routines, and the other four couples will dance their group routine. Tomorrow, they switch. It's "Guilty Pleasures" night -- which, don't get me started. You like what you like and that's ok. Unless it's illegal. In which case, darn tootin' you should feel guilty. Tom tells us the freestyle team dance has already claimed one victim; the camera pans to to Melissa and Tony. (Psst, I read online that she was taken to the hospital with a head injury over the weekend.)

And now let's go to the infield to interview the Fantastic Two. During Sunday's NASCAR telecast on Fox, reporter Steve Byrnes was set up to interview four cast members from the new Fantastic Four movie. However, he introduced only Jessica Alba and Michael Chiklis. (OK, to be perfectly honest, Mr. Flip recognizes only those two, also. For the record, the other half of the four is composed of Chris Evans and Ioan Gruffudd.) Byrnes talked about the movie briefly and then ended by expressing his outrage that Alba finished behind Lindsay Lohan in Maxim magazine's "Hot 100" list.

Actress Jada Pinkett Smith is appealing directly to Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake on behalf of elephants. In a letter dated Tuesday, the actress said she was appealing to the mayor "as a mother and proud Baltimore native. " Pinkett Smith wanted to make sure no elephants were jabbed with bullhooks during the upcoming performance of Ringling Bros. Circus' at 1st Mariner Arena. She reminded Rawlings-Blake of the city's law against any “mechanical, electrical, or manualdevice that is likely to cause physical injury or suffering” to a performing animal.

No fumble: Brady pops question; model says yes New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady proposed to supermodel Gisele Bundchen on a private jet on Christmas Eve - and she said yes, TMZ.com is reporting. Brady, who, it said, is famous for his quarterbacking skills and running errands for Bundchen, proposed aboard a jet that took off from Teterboro Airport in New Jersey and landed in Boston. There were four dozen white roses on board, as well as champagne. Her parents were also onboard.

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake wasn't exactly jumping when Jada Pinkett Smith asked for her help in protecting elephants earlier this week. The mayor more or less says she had bigger fish to fry -- that and the actress didn't help her out when the city needed it. But Friday Pinkett Smith's aunt, who runs the Baltimore-based charity of the actress, said her niece has done quite a bit for the city -- and she's surprised that the mayor doesn't...

FOR 14 YEARS I've carried the label "HIV positive" and all the baggage that goes with it. But through the darkest of moments I could always depend on one symbol to lift my spirits -- the tiny red ribbon worn by compassionate people throughout the country, but especially by Hollywood celebrities. To me, the ribbon -- worn as a sign of compassion for people with AIDS -- had always been a reminder that when much of the world turned its back on those suffering from the disease, or simply lost interest, Hollywood opened her arms and kept the world's attention focused on this terrible plague.

Browns coach Eric Mangini was encouraged by two days of meetings with Ravens pro personnel director George Kokinis and indicated his longtime friend will soon be Cleveland's new general manager. Kokinis spoke with team owner Randy Lerner yesterday and could be days away from joining the club. It is not known whether Lerner offered Kokinis a contract. Patriots: : Quarterback Tom Brady said his rehabilitation from season-ending knee surgery was "going really well," but he did not offer any timetable for a return to the football field.

SOME PEOPLE might call it ironic, but it was because of AIDS that I first became involved with animal rights. When my dearest friend, Robert Redding -- who helped me develop the Elvira "Mistress of the Dark," character -- found out he had AIDS, I was determined to keep him going until a cure was found. I was always looking for anything that would make him feel better, and one of the things I heard about was a macrobiotic diet. But the only way I could talk Robert into it was to do it with him. After a while we lapsed from the macrobiotic diet, but Robert and I both stayed vegetarians, and I began reading more about vegetarianism.