Burning Issue of the Day

Pasted from a publication called "The American Thinker". Remember that PETA wants BSA to abolish Fishing Merit Badge. Be forewarned...Every time I think things can't possibly get any goofier here in the Golden State, I find out that I am mistaken...

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First They Came for the Foie Gras

February 16th, 2004

The Food Police are coming.

You and I are going to be presumed no longer capable of deciding on our own which foods we are to consume. Powerful elements within Californias state government, the all-knowing, supremely wise guardian of all creatures great and small, are dancing to the tune to a well-organized group of ruthless extremists. You see, they want to tell us that we cant have certain foods, because they feel so strongly that it is morally wrong for us to sup on certain traditional dishes. In their view, eating animals is the equivalent of the Holocaust. Animals deserve the same rights as people.

The chosen stalking horse for establishing the principle that humans must not be allowed to eat meat is one of the most delicious (and expensive) substances on the planet: foie gras.

One of the most powerful politicians in California, John Burton, is planning to introduce a bill which would virtually prohibit foie gras by essentially putting the Western United States' sole producer out of business while denying chefs ready access to the hyper-fattened duck liver, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

John Burton is no ordinary pol. He is the President Pro Tem of the California State Senate. More importantly, he is the heir to the legendary San Francisco political machine founded by his late brother, Phil, longtime Congressman from San Francisco. Nancy Pelosi, the current Minority Leader of the US House of Representatives is the most prominent product of the Burton Machine nationally, but the real power running the machine is John Burton. If you think Kennedy and transfer the location from Boston to San Francisco, you get a rough understanding of the Burton Machine.

Foie gras is an ideal target for injecting the moral equivalence of animals and people into the dietary strictures of law. It is very expensive, and relatively few people in the United States have ever eaten it, much less know how to prepare it. It is French, and hard to pronounce, if youve never heard it trip from the lips of a waiter or friend. And, it is very fatty. Even people like me, who love the stuff, acknowledge that it is at best an occasional pleasure, not a staple of the dinner table.

The alleged sin of foie gras producers is the use of the traditional speed feeding method, in which grain is forced down the throat of a duck, rapidly enlarging the precious liver in a matter of weeks, right before the duck is ready to be harvested. Opponents liberally throw around the words cruelty and suffering to describe the process. However, anyone who has watched the annual Nathans Famous hot dog eating contest, or other events in the rapidly growing sport of competitive eating might note some conspicuous similarities, at least in the pre-harvest phases.

John Burton invokes a cartoon character to gin up sympathy for the animals: You don't need to be cramming food down Donald Duck's throat to have foie gras [its] an inhumane way to be dealing with our fine feathered friends." Cruelty aside, Burton is willing to refuse others the pleasures of this particular food because he doesnt particularly enjoy it, personally. "I've eaten foie gras," he added. "It ain't my cup of tea."

Burtons casual attitude toward banning something he doesnt like is not shared by the activists, though. In August, 2003, vandals did extensive damage to a shop, Sonoma Saveurs, which sells foie gras supplied by Californias only producer, Sonoma Foie Gras, the same farm which would be shut down by Burtons bill. A month earlier, vandals defaced the homes of co-owners of the shop, one of whom happens to be chef Laurent Manrique, executive chef of Aqua, one the most famous, elegant, delicious, and expensive restaurants in the Western United States. In addition to damaging his house, the vandals left chef Manrique a chilling videotape, showing that members of his family had been under surveillance by the violent activists, for whom cruelty to humans is of no particular concern.

Burton is certain that his bill will pass the California Senate. The House is less certain, and Governor Schwarzenegger has not yet commented on the matter. So, it may not become law anytime soon. Nevertheless, the senior legislative body of the largest state, the national capital of the foodie-nation, will have put itself on the record. The extremists will be one step closer to their ultimate goal of banning all meat, all leather, and all use of animals for human purposes.

Once you buy into the notion that somebody elses definition of cruelty is reason for the state to prevent you from eating what you want, it is only a matter of time before the slaughter of animals becomes defined as inhumane and cruel. The vegetarian jihad marches forward.

Thomas Lifson

This is actually a good question Eisley. This is about a group that wishes to impose their idea of morality on the rest of us through government legislation. I assume all those that support a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage or otherwise have the government regulate their own interpretation of morality would also support this effort. The days of duck livers in California may be limited.

Personally I don't eat livers of anything and am already in a heterosexual marriage so how will this effect me?

SA

I am at once sympathetic and unsympathetic with those who have other people trying to police what they eat. You see, I have the pleasure of having a militant vegetarian living in my house (my 17-year-old daughter.) Her own food intake apparently not being enough for her to worry about, she regularaly harangues the ominvorous residents of the house about our eating habits. (Though the most carnivorous member of the household seems to get a break; sometimes it pays to be a dog, I guess.)

And since I do almost all the food shopping for the house due to my wife's various medical conditions, I have to spend 20-30 minutes more than I used to, each time, getting my darling daughter her own special food. (Make her do it herself, I hear some say, but she lacks a driver's license, which is just as well. Or, make her come with me and get what she wants? Usually not, I'm much happier and saner after doing it myself.) This would include eggs which say "Free Roaming Hens" on the carton and are probably therefore more expensive (I don't even look at the price, what would be the point?), but if you ask me, they could just as easily be regular non-free-roaming eggs.

Now, all this is a picnic compared to the 3 or 4 months in which she was a Vegan (that is, nothing from an animal, no milk, cheese, eggs, honey etc.) Suddenly Campbell's Vegetarian Vegetable soup, and even most of the brands that cater exclusively (and expensively) to vegetarians, were no good because the 14th ingredient on the list indicates some fleck of milk or egg protein. That easily added an hour onto every shopping trip and unknown numbers of points to my blood pressure. Fortunately, she eventually decided she was spending way too much time thinking about eating, reading about eating, and agonizing about eating, as opposed to actually eating, and she went back to just being a vegetarian.

Good point Scoutingagain.

NJ, You'd probably get a lot more respect if you suddenly grew canines like the dog (maybe during the full moon?). Anyway, I would like to extol the virtues of free-range chickens. They are smart, fit, and after surviving foxes and other predators, they are fun in the end - because I can't catch them...rather I shoot them off the tree limbs whenever dumplings are on the bill of fare. The downside is that they are agressive and tend to peck me when I try to gather the eggs. Makes shooting them all the more satisfying.

'we will kill the old red rooster when she comes...hack, hack..'

"This would include eggs which say "Free Roaming Hens" on the carton and are probably therefore more expensive"

Gotta love the concept of Free Range Hens. A couple years ago, a local news show had a report on Free Range Hens.

When you hear that term, you think of chickens running wild, enjoying life. Sorry, that's not so. According to the interviewees on this show, all that is requied is that the chickens have access to the outdoors on nice days. Otherwise, they are the same as other chickens.

I happen to love Foie Gras.

There is some new modern culinary idea of serving it warm, or slightly sauted in butter. I happen to like it chilled with warm toast points.

While the treatment of some of the geese that provide any liver type pate is not very nice it doesn't happen to all the geese.

I was in the same boat as the Gentleman from New Jersey only in my case it was a sister. It worked out very well as after she had completed her law degree she took of for India to "Find Herself." So not eating meat was not a hardship.

Patty, my sister worked on a development project for six months. She said the bathroom was just a hole and things were very primitive.

At the time she left Punk was real big in the UK.She never went as far as having safety pins or other foreign items stuck through her nose but her hair when she left was tufted ? and at least three different colors. When she got there it was so darn hot she took to wearing mens cotton pajamas and as there were no cars she rode a very ancient mans bicycle.

She was only the second White person that the natives had ever met.

I can just imagine what they must have thought.

Patty has now seen the light and last time we had lunch at the Old Bailey, she was seen munching on a very humanely slaughtered Pork Pie and a glass of wine.

Eamonn

Our esteemed associate, packsaddle, seems not to understand.

Teaching songs to scouts that glorify violence??

Shooting free range chickens?

Methinks he needs more training...where is Bob White when you need him?

I can think of a lot of things of more worldly importance than the manner in which duck livers are "harvested". Thank goodness that there are people in this world that will deal with this issue. It takes a load off the rest of us so we can champion other causes.

I like liver. Had a plate of chicken livers once at a small mom & pop cafe outside of La Crosse, Wisconsin. Heaven. Almost worth a plane ticket back there for more. Hog liver is good too.

The issue is interesting though. Is there such of demand for duck liver that we have to force feed the beast to get a swollen liver faster? Liver lovers can't wait for the damned thing to grow at the rate God intended? Why the rush?

NJ-

Then there's the story of the Texas Aggies that bred a free roaming chicken that had four legs. What with drumsticks being so popular. Bo Pilgrim stopped by one day to inquire, "how do them chickens taste?" We don't know they replied, they're too fast to catch.

Speaking of catching chickens, any chance Scouts will bring back the 'catch your chicken and cook it for supper' activity?

bd

Big Dog,

25 Years ago we had a "Survival Weekend" out on the back 40 of the Scout Reservation. We each had a buddy and survival kit. Saturday night they let out 25 chickens and bedlam ensued. We had to catch the bird first and then figure out how to do the rest. My buddy and I had well done roasted chicken on a spit. Others never did catch the bird and others caught it and then couldn't kill it. Guess they didn't get hungry enough. That was a fun weekend, for those of us who ate well. Not so fun for the others. We'll have to get that in the planner.

Trail Pounder,

Please tell me you're joking about the chickens...

You've got to be kidding me! If I want to eat goose liver I will eat goose liver!

Treated in an inhumane way! In the 1st place, geese aren't human! And in the 2nd place they have no rights! They are animals!

I'm done for now!

Ed Mori

1 Peter 4:10

NJ, Not at all. There was 15-20 teams of 2. I was probably 14 at the time. That would have been the year of the bicentennial, 1976 when we had "Survival Campout". Saturday morning they had a shakedown inspection of survival kits and issued everyone a bag of gorp. Then we were to hike out to the back 40 and set up a shelter and stay at least 50 yards away from the other teams. We built our shelter, fished for bluegills, and then at around 3:00 pm they released the chickens. My mom owned a little restaraunt. I knew how to clean one. My Great- Grandma gave me the short course in neck wringing. Now, if I was planning on doing an advanced course in survival cooking, we're going to figure out how to make Survival BBQ Sauce for that bird!!!

TP-

You da man! How I wish I had been involved with Scouts as a lad!

Hate to break it to some of y'all, but chickens do not magically appear in the grocers freezer. Somehow, having to hunt down your own supper puts it in a different light. I heard enough soccer moms got together to put an end to the chicken hunt.

bd

BigDog and TP,

Look, I understand that chicken does not grow in the cellophane-wrapped packages I buy at Shop Rite, or in nugget form at McDonald's. I understand that someone, somewhere, had to kill and prepare the chicken. And if I suddenly found myself actually in a situation where I would starve otherwise, I would do the best that my 46-year-old overweight body could do to catch the chicken, and then I would, though unhappily, convert it into lunch.

However, that's not the same as sending a bunch of teenagers out into a field, and seeing what they can do with a bunch of live chickens, for practice. TP, I am sure that with your family training, you sent your chicken to its reward very quickly and no less humanely than a "professional" would have. That particular chicken has no complaint. (Well, you know what I mean.) What made me sort of queasy, though, was the comment about some of the boys not being able to kill their chicken. Did someone show them how first? I sort of get this disturbing mental image of some unpleasant things being done to these birds in a futile effort to get them to lie still and get cooked.

While I am not an animal rights person (obviously, since I eat chicken, etc.), I do think that we "intelligent creatures" have some sort of obligation to not cause any more pain or discomfort to animals than is necessary. It seems to me that principle would not be followed by setting a bunch of boys loose on a bunch of chickens with instructions to kill 'em and eat 'em if you can. TP, I also was a Boy Scout in 1976, and I don't recall any freelance chicken-slaughtering activities in our troop.

So I guess I'm on the side of the "soccer moms" this time.