Friday, 27 July 2012

By on July 27th, 2012 in government, politics

07:50 – This Chick-fil-A thing is getting ridiculous. As far as I remember, I’ve never eaten there, and now that I know that the company is owned by a bunch of anti-gay bigots, I never will. But for the government to deny the company the right to open a restaurant is a gross abuse of government power, and a clear violation of the First Amendment.

It’s a sad state of affairs when the polarization of American politics has become so extreme that people are arguing about whether a fast-food franchise should be allowed to open a new restaurant to serve chicken nuggets. Now, if Chick-fil-A were refusing to hire gay or divorced people, or if it were refusing to sell chicken nuggets to gay or divorced people, or if it were buying only heterosexual, married chickens, that’d be one thing. But no one has suggested that they’re doing any of those things. So the proper response here isn’t to use the force of law to prevent them from opening new restaurants. The proper response is simply to refuse to buy any of their products.


46 Comments and discussion on "Friday, 27 July 2012"

  1. SteveF says:

    Well, you see, the way it works is, individuals could make the decision
    not to patronize Chick-filler* but if the government prevents them from
    opening a restaurant then in effect every individual decides not to
    partronize them. Yet another example of how the government is more
    efficient than industry or individuals.

    * With a name like that, obviously they’re anti-gay.

  2. Lynn McGuire says:

    The Chick-fil-A thing ( I assume that you are referring to http://abcnews.go.com/Business/chick-fil-blocked-opening-chicago-store/story?id=16853890#.UBLK9KObq70 ) is just another case of individuals using government to discriminate against a group of people. It is amazing that one individual has the power to block a business from opening. Looks very, very corrupt to me.

    I eat at Chick-fil-a two to four times a month and love them. I really enjoy their salads for trying to get filled while keeping the carbs down.

    Note that the location is Chicago. They have also blocked WalMart and many other stores so the stores are opening in the suburbs. And Chicago is crying about lack of businesses and has increased their incomes taxes dramatically in the last couple of years.

  3. Ray Thompson says:

    There is a marked difference between a business that discriminates against their customers as opposed to a business owner that states his core values. Nowhere in the article was in mentioned that Chick-Fil-A will NOT serve gays. The Chicago alderman is apparently clueless as to the difference and if he does block the permit will be breaking the law, not Chick-Fil-A as he is now discriminating. But this is Chicago, the location of rampant corruption.

    Chick-Fil-A can be closed on Sunday as that is not discrimination. It is simply a business practice. No more so than Walmart closing on Christmas for a few hours.

  4. Robert Bruce Thompson says:

    It sounds as though we all agree. The nutters on the left are as bad as the nutters on the right. And the beards have all grown longer overnight.

  5. bgrigg says:

    Nutters are, simply put, nutters! Doesn’t matter their “bent”.

    Bob has some political views that I don’t agree with, but that doesn’t stop me from buying a quality product from him. Nor would I not buy from Chick-Fil-A, unless they actively promoted racism or sexism. The owner spouting off? That’s just Free Speech in Action, and you are equally Free to Choose to Shop Where You Want.

    Speaking of shopping, the chemistry book finally arrived and I’ve been poking through it. From a printer’s POV, the layout, printing and binding is very nicely done, and “Printed in Canada”, fancy that! I’m guessing Friesen’s in Altona, as they do a lot of textbook publishing.

    I like the Dr. Paul and Dr. Mary comments scattered throughout, as sort of a “sober second thought”, or even hinting that a practical joke could be made from the experiment.

    I especially like this one:

    “Maybe you’re relying on them learning the hard way, which to be honest really is the only way to learn this lesson, but I like to explicitly tell students not to throw anything away until the have gotten the product they want/expect. But, yes, no one listens. Alas, the life of a teacher. They think you’re an idiot as long as you’re in their presence and only after they’re miles and years away do they realize you weren’t a boob.”

    I haven’t dug into the experiments yet, but have done spot reading here and there, but it is very easy to read, given the subject, and that is a skill I wish more writers had!

  6. Chad says:

    I never eat at Chick-fil-a. Mostly for three reasons:

    1) Their restaurants are so popular and this so crowded that simply walking in the door or driving into the parking lot gives me a headache.

    2) They’re closed on Sundays and that just annoys me.

    3) I don’t eat much fast food anymore. I prefer non-chain full service restaurants. So, I either eat somewhere I get a waiter/waitress or I snack at home. I suppose that makes me a “dining out” elitist, but so be it.

  7. OFD says:

    If the buggering Baptist buggers open a restaurant here in northern Vermont OFD will make a frigging POINT of rushing to buy their stuff. But no such luck, just as no Trader Joe’s here, although I hear the latter may be coming to our so-called Queen City, Burlap, soon.

    Mayor “Mumbles” Menino of Boston, who has that name because his speech sounds like he is rolling marbles around in his mouth, combined with the local Eastie accent., has been spouting off the usual hardcore librul Dem claptrap about not allowing these bigots to open one of their stores “…on our Freedom Trail…”, etc. Asshole. Some patriots ought to dress as Indians and get together and tar and feather this joker and dump his ass in the Harbor for ye olde time’s sake.

    And naturally, as someone pointed out just now (Lynn, actually), some nasty little shitwad of a rat-fucker is using the Almighty State to have his or her way, a tactic beloved of the Left over many decades now, but not unknown to the so-called Right, which as the media insists on describing them, are mostly neocons and country-club Repubs anyway. The real and genuine Right hasn’t got time for this crap and is busy with bigger and better things.

  8. Roy Harvey says:

    Hear is a bit of biology not yet in any of our host’s kits.

    Artificial jellyfish…

  9. OFD says:

    In a few more years the buggers will have people built from whatever cells, but….will they in fact be people???

  10. Chuck Waggoner says:

    I have eaten there once. As far as I could tell they only sell white meat, and I am a dark meat man. I’ll stick with KFC, whose techniques were perfected right here in Tiny Town, when the Colonel was told by his authorized restaurant reseller, that customers said chicken at the restaurant across from my dad’s office tasted much better than the Colonel’s. The restaurant across the street had bought what was then a brand new device called a “Broaster”, which both fried and pressure-cooked the chicken at the same time. Colonel visited the restaurant, agreed it was better chicken, and ordered all his outlets to buy and use the “Broasters” for his chicken. They are still in place today at all KFC’s. Yum. Best dark chicken in the world.

  11. Greg Norton says:

    Despite the fact that their parent company has a long history of supporting Planned Parenthood, an organization that I find troubling for many reasons, I don’t let politics get in the way of enjoying an occasional Blizzard at the local Dairy Queen.

  12. Miles_Teg says:

    I like KFC too, but feel nauseated if I eat too much. A KFC outlet near work used to offer a buffet at lunch time and I’d lick my lips at the thought all morning. But after about 5-6 pieces I couldn’t eat any more, and I’d feel off colour for several hours. I prefer white chicken meat, but some dark is okay. But most of all I prefer just slicing up some chicken breasts and stir frying with vegetables, as I don’t really tolerate fried food any more.

  13. Miles_Teg says:

    Okay, who wants to move to Spain?

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-07-28/spanish-unemployment-nears-one-quarter-of-workforce/4160976

    As to the anti-gay chicken guy, I don’t see why people get upset or even interested about what position celebrities or top businesspeople take. If the guy was an admirer of Hitler or Stalin I wouldn’t eat there but who really cares about his views on gay “marriage” or other issues. Jeff Bezos is promoting gay “marriage” but that won’t stop me using Amazon. And when The Fonz backed Obama in 2008 I was sad but didn’t much care. I mean, who really cares if celebrity X backs McCain or Obama, or is pro- or anti-gay “marriage”?

  14. OFD says:

    Agreed; one just gets tired of the same old game that’s played here; i.e., find a Christian businessman who owns a chain of restaurants that he closes on Sundays and ask him what his view is of gay marriage. Then go absolutely bonkers ballistic with rage because you don’t like his answer and then get the media and government to persecute him. Naturally the so-called Right gets angry and the game continues.

    And I note that Springsteen and some other celebs originally were all warm and gooey over Nosferatu II back when but now are very disappointed and won’t support him anymore. He may be a huge force in popular music but like most celebs he’s a political imbecile; anyone with half a brain can see that this system is irreparably broken, that electoral politics is for rich folks and fools, and that a total overhaul, probably revolution and civil war is coming. Eventually. We’ll probably stumble along and muddle through and keep kicking various cans down the road, but it won’t be forever.

  15. bgrigg says:

    It won’t be forever can last an awfully long time, though!

  16. Lynn McGuire says:

    Oh gosh, KFC! Two breasts and a wing please, original. Just freaking awesome. And something that I need to stay way way way away from with only one coronary artery.

    Sigh. I was there last week.

  17. OFD says:

    Lordy, ol’ OFD has not had anything from KFC in many, many years, and nothing from the burger joints for a real long time, either. Am I perfect? Am I a paragon of gustatory virtue? Not hardly.

    I hereby confess to you, my brothers and sisters, and to all the angels and saints, that I have a fatal attraction to Taco Bell. Luckily for me the closest one is in our Queen City, Burlap, and really outta-the-way for me to get to. I also scarf bag after bag of Rolled Gold stick pretzels and drink Moxie by the quart. (this is arguably better than worshiping at the altar of Lord Vodka and his apostles, fruit juice and ice.)

  18. Miles_Teg says:

    Lynn wrote:

    “Oh gosh, KFC! Two breasts and a wing please, original.”

    I’ll have to admit I’m a breast man too. 🙂

    Heart problems killed my father and three of my grandparents so I should avoid KFC too. But I’m an addict.

  19. Chuck Waggoner says:

    Well, KFC will argue strongly that they do not use oil that is dangerous to the circulatory system, anymore. Of course—they would say that.

  20. Julian E says:

    Since the fact that the president of the company stating he does not believe in gay marriage (a position the president endorsed until a few months ago) is sufficient for you to refuse to do business with Chick Fill-A, should some forward thinking entrepreneur start a web site listing the political, religious beliefs–heck, the tastes in music and literature–of every corporate officer in America? The beliefs and tastes of move stars, writers, and musicians while were at it. Then we could start doing business with those whose views we agree with and shunning those whose views we oppose. Spending our dollars on quality products and service is clearly for those of limited character.

    I’ve purchased several of your books because I believed they offered excellent value for my dollar–still do, but then I’m a man of limited character. Clearly I should have submitted a questionnaire requesting your position on the political and spiritual matters that interest me.

    And while we’re at it: just where do you stand on deficit spending and the HBO adaptation of Game of Thrones?

  21. Robert Bruce Thompson says:

    I consider those who oppose equal rights to be despicable. I don’t tolerate someone discriminating against gay people any more than I would tolerate someone who discriminated against people based on their race, sex, or national origin. And I certainly see no reason to patronize the businesses of bigots.

  22. OFD says:

    Well, there’s equal rights and then there’s preferential treatment and then there’s somebody stirring up some shit and causing problems and using the State to enforce their own political ideology. The dude was asked and said he did not support gay marriage; well now, that goes against the prevailing and burgeoning liberal/Dem zeitgeist now ascendant in Western civilization so he has thus put himself beyond the Pale. Some guys have a golf club for a hundred years, just the guys, and it’s a private club, but now some whining, bitchy busybody fembots wanna invade it, not so much so they can play a great game of golf on a great course but so they can upset the Old White Boyz apple cart and create a stink and do so by getting the State, once again, to intervene and by jeezum make those patriarchal bastards admit womyn. Or whatever they call themselves now, hard to keep up.

    This restaurant guy straight up tells the world he’s a Christian who runs a business that he closes on Sundays so he and his employees can have at least one day a week to do whatever, probably Christian worship being in the mix there somewhere. An agitator type from the hard Left gets to him to ask him about gay marriage and he sez he’s against it. So fucking what? Don’t like that? Don’t like him? Then don’t eat there and pay money to them. But are you a sniveling little whiny bitch and gonna run out and get Our Nanny the Almighty State or Mayor Bloomberg or Mayor Menino or Arch-Fixer Rahm Emmanuel to do your dirty little job for you?? Or are you gonna man up and simply boycott the buggers and otherwise mind your own biz?

    I’m against deficit spending; I mainly like the HBO adaptation of “Game of Thrones” and I do not own a chain of chicken restaurants but do not rule that out if the dude needs me to step in and take the heat for him. (of course he probably doesn’t like Catholics, either, so I guess I won’t buy his stuff, either….)

  23. SteveF says:

    -sniff- I’m overcome by the beauty of OFD’s screed.

    Not joking. Exaggerating, maybe, as I’m not actually overcome, but as a curmudgeonly diatribe against whiny bitches, it’s beautiful.

  24. Miles_Teg says:

    “And I certainly see no reason to patronize the businesses of bigots.”

    I’ll patroness the business of bigots any time. I don’t care if the managing director or the drone who serves me is a bigot. That includes Southern Baptist bigots, atheist bigots, gay bigots, anti-gay bigots, you name it. If the owner of a business had killed people in a concentration camp I wouldn’t give them my business but I simply couldn’t be bothered walking out of a business because the owner was pro-choice, pro-life, pro-gay “marriage”, anti-gay “marriage” or whatever. I would even buy books written by atheists. You’re just too up tight.

  25. Miles_Teg says:

    SteveF wrote:

    “-sniff- I’m overcome by the beauty of OFD’s screed.”

    Smack’s a wonderful thing, isn’t it? 🙂

  26. OFD says:

    “patroness”? As a verb? Man, when Oz was colonized, they threw the English language baby out with the English bathwater, looks like. Shazzamm!

    “Smack”? Not usually sniffed. Injected or smoked. Coke is “sniffed.” SteveF merely teared up a little at OFD’s portrayal of sniveling, pasty little complaining bitches. Who need to man the fuck up and get a life. Instead of bothering working capitalist enterprises with their nonsense and malarkey.

  27. Chuck Waggoner says:

    Can we get the government to force OFD to open chicken restaurants? With a mission statement like that, I’ll buy chicken from him. As long as it’s dark meat.

  28. OFD says:

    My chicken restaurants would feature range-raised and fed chickens who are treated well enough and then humanely slaughtered (how does the adverb “humanely” work thus with animals? always wondered that…) and then koshered/brined with my own special formula. After that they would be cooked to order utilizing the customer’s preferred method, just as eggs, their children, are cooked to order. I like mine grilled/smoked, but otherwise generally prefer turkey to chicken.

    The government had its day forcing me to do stuff long, long ago, and it is a miserable thing to endure to have them still doing it. I sincerely hope and pray that it comes to an end (the government, not me) real soon.

  29. Chuck Waggoner says:

    My dad’s best friend through most of his life, was a doctor. The doctor friend said to stay away from turkey. Once a year at Thanksgiving was enough. The reasoning was that turkey has some chemicals which work on the brain, and among other things, makes one sleepy. So I have basically done that all my life. Chicken tastes much better to me than turkey, anyway.

    I would eat those chemical-free, free-ranging chickens of yours. In fact, I think there is WAY too much stuff pumped into the things we eat, in addition to GMO plants we have no choice but to consume, that are significantly bad for you. I have had more health problems since returning from Europe, that I quite honestly believe have been caused by the vastly inferior foods we cannot avoid. My doctor does not disagree, but says some people are affected detrimentally by food less than others. I seem to be one of the more sensitive ones, but the food here sure ain’t helping me.

  30. Lynn McGuire says:

    For free range chemical free chicken go to Chipotle Mexican Grill (we call it CMG) ( http://www.chipotle.com/ ). They will make you a burrito or salad with any kind of guilt-free meat that you want. Warning: be prepared for burrito blowout! I always carefully position my tray in the splatter zone and do early dumps off the top of the burrito. That is what they have spoons for. Always be sure to get 2 to 3 helpings of salsa and red sauce each on your burrito to really help you live the moment.

  31. Greg White says:

    Has anyone here, or anywhere, for that matter, even read what Dan Cathy of Chick-fil-A said?

    The original interview is here:
    http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=38271

    And here’s what he said –

    “Some have opposed the company’s support of the traditional family. “Well, guilty as charged,” said Cathy when asked about the company’s position.”

    “We are very much supportive of the family — the biblical definition of the family unit. We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married to our first wives. We give God thanks for that.”

    He said nothing about gays, gay marriage, or anything like that. He said nothing that President Obama hasn’t said.

    He didn’t say he didn’t like gays. He didn’t say he wouldn’t hire gays. He didn’t say he wouldn’t serve gays.

    Would people have been happier if he’d said he was AGAINST the traditional family? It certainly looks like it.

  32. BGrigg says:

    Bringing facts in after the news reports just isn’t DONE, Greg White! (insert hands on hips emoticon)

    😀

  33. Robert Bruce Thompson says:

    He said nothing about gays, gay marriage, or anything like that. He said nothing that President Obama hasn’t said.

    Of course he did. The “biblical definition” makes it very clear what he’s talking about, despite the fact that the bible describes several different types of relationships between men and women. Everything from plural marriage to incest. You can bet this guy wasn’t talking about either of those.

  34. OFD says:

    Biblical or not, he was clearly referring to the sort of monogamous heterosexual relationship between men and women that has existed since Zinjanthropus or whoever, and not, ha, ha, Adam and Steve. Obviously for the purpose of procreating. Which Adam and Steve can’t do, not yet anyway.

    But with the right attitude and some legerdemain with texts, folks into Theory and various political needs and ideologies can locate whatever they want in someone’s utterances and writings; in this case, as it turns out, with vast media cooperation, bigotry and hate.

    I call bullshit.

  35. Robert Bruce Thompson says:

    Oh, come on. Monogamous and polygamous relationships, homosexual and heterosexual, have existed since people have existed. Before that, actually, because other animals also engage in such relationships.

    Call bullshit all you want. This guy is a bigot of the first order.

  36. OFD says:

    Calling someone a bigot does not, perforce, make them one. The hard Left in the West over the last few decades have made an odious specialty of calling people bad names like that, repeating them often enough in the tame media (a la the late Joseph Goebbels) , and causing them to seem revealed truth.

    http://takimag.com/article/chik_fil_a_eats_crow_paul_gottfried?utm_source=Taki%27s+Magazine+List&utm_campaign=b774543b8b-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email#axzz222gpvjXs

  37. Chuck Waggoner says:

    Hmm. The guy says (in several different places) that he categorically opposes those who practice homosexuality. That alone qualifies him as a bigot practicing bigotry according to the dictionary definition of the words.

  38. Miles_Teg says:

    Does he merely disapprove or actually want to stop them by force of law? I disapprove of many things but have a live-and-let-live attitude.

  39. Chuck Waggoner says:

    Well, that has nothing to do with the definition of bigot. An opinion or prejudice against members of a group, obstinately held in spite of arguments to the contrary, is all it takes to be one.

  40. Miles_Teg says:

    Well, there’s no shortage of them. If you avoided every bigot who would you buy stuff from or sell to or socialise with?

  41. BGrigg says:

    Goodness, I can’t even buy from myself!

  42. Robert Bruce Thompson says:

    I note that the very word “bigot” derives from the Old English for “by god”.

  43. OFD says:

    It’s a lefty thing; merely to have incorrect thoughts brands one instantly and irrevocably as a racist, bigot, sexist, homophobe, ageist, lookist, oh the list just goes on and on and has for years now. Modern-day witch-hunt crap. And as Greg points out, we must ALL confess our guilt, and presumably, accept the condemnation of all right-thinking people, i.e., lefties, and receive our just punishment accordingly.

  44. OFD says:

    Gee, right away I have a very strong opinion and prejudice against lefties, so of course I’m a bigot, by God.

  45. Robert Bruce Thompson says:

    So, just to get this straight, you consider it acceptable for someone to dislike black people because they’re black, gay people because they’re gay, and so on?

    Understand, I’m not saying that these people don’t have the right to hold these opinions. What I am saying is that I consider those beliefs beneath contempt and do not care to associate with people who hold them.

    If someone chooses not to buy our products because I’m an atheist, that’s fine with me. On the other hand, I don’t refuse to sell our products to anyone regardless of their beliefs.

  46. OFD says:

    Well, I guess we’re sort of in agreement here; people are gonna hold whatever likes, dislikes, and prejudices no matter how much other people find them despicable and beneath contempt. I generally do not associate with racists, anti-Semites, people who hate gays, etc. but find I am somehow able to get along OK with them when I do run into them from time to time. I also don’t know many atheists, and have bought stuff from them before with no problem on that score.

    But the original post and subsequent hoopla were over the CEO of the chicken restaurants being run through the hard Left/media gauntlet for his personal beliefs which is what I called bullshit. Hey, don’t buy his chicken. But no, they had to make a huge deal over it and call this guy out and try to damage him, his family, his employees and his business. What they did instead, probably, was produce a mighty groundswell of support and additional business. Joke’s on them, stupid buggers.

    Like years ago when the U.S. Attorney General and Tipper Gore, et. al. got all up in arms and high dudgeon over some rap group and pronounced anathema upon them. Naturally sales went through the roof and we’ve had the curse of hip-hop since, not only in the inner cities but metastasized throughout popular music and culture at large.

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