I heard this feature on a Bush administration proposal for universal health insurance for household pets on Monday’s (hint) All Things Considered and, sputtering and fuming, actually believed it! I tried to figure out why the Administration would be invested in this; would it ingratiate them further to the Right-to-Lifers, for example?? Only the soundbite of angry protest from a representative of an organization called “People Are People Too” nearly, but not quite made me suspicious. This NPR feature, on the other hand, was not an April Fools hoax, believe it or not — a group of activists is trying to get the Pope to declare that sea turtle flesh is meat to prevent large numbers of the creatures from being killed for Lenten food. Neither was this LA Times lament, that it appears to be okay to blow your nose without a tissue these days, in jest. On the other hand, I followed a link to this Times of India April 1 news item reporting that bin Laden had been arrested the night before at the New Delhi rail station, and did recognize it as a joke, especially when the article said that ObL had booked his railway passage under the name of George W. Bush. Clever of me. The Museum of Hoaxes site has a gallery of memorable April Fool’s hoaxes and a link for you to subscribe to a free Museum of Hoaxes newsletter. And finally, this Adequacy for Grownups site opines that it is an irresponsible and unseemly betrayal of the public trust in the media (such as it is…) for journalists to perpetrate April Fool’s hoaxes. However, I can’t figure out if that was an April 1 jest or in earnest… [most of these links courtesy of Spike]