Chick-Fil-A: the chicken Jesus would eat

[wv ram]

I figure Jesus would stop at Chick-Fil-A,
right after he shopped at Walmart,
and...um...ya know...waterboarded some muslims, maybe.

I've never eaten at ChickFilA, btw. Is it as good as McDonald's chickenMcNuggets?

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“But perhaps the most alarming ingredient in a Chicken McNugget is tertiary butylhydroquinone, or TBHQ, an antioxidant derived from petroleum that is either sprayed directly on the nugget or the inside of the box it comes in to "help preserve freshness." According to A Consumer's Dictionary of Food Additives, TBHQ is a form of butane (i.e. lighter fluid) the FDA allows processors to use sparingly in our food: It can comprise no more than 0.02 percent of the oil in a nugget. Which is probably just as well, considering that ingesting a single gram of TBHQ can cause "nausea, vomiting, ringing in the ears, delirium, a sense of suffocation, and collapse." Ingesting five grams of TBHQ can kill.”
― Michael Pollan, The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals

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Chick-fil-A braces for protests, same-sex ‘kiss-in’

By Dylan Stableford, Yahoo! News

Senior Media Reporter

PostsEmailRSSBy Dylan Stableford, Yahoo! News
(Chick-fil-A)
The still-simmering controversy sparked by the Chick-fil-A president's public comments against same-sex marriage is set to reignite this week, as more than 500,000 people say they will join former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee's "Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day" on Wednesday by "simply showing up and eating" at one of the company's 1,600 restaurants, while protesters backed by gay and lesbian groups plan to participate in a same-sex "kiss-in" on Friday at the same stores.

Chick-fil-A, founded in 1946, has a long history of unapologetic social conservatism. But the most recent clash between the $4 billion fast-food chain and progressive groups began in June, when Chick-fil-A President Dan Cathy said that those who support gay marriage are "inviting God's judgment on our nation."

"We shake our fist at Him and say, 'We know better than you as to what constitutes a marriage,'" Cathy said in a radio interview. "I pray God's mercy on our generation that has such a prideful, arrogant attitude to think that we have the audacity to define what marriage is about." Then, in an interview published by the Baptist Press, Cathy doubled down on his stance against same-sex unions.

"Guilty as charged," Cathy said. "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."

[Related: Chick-fil-A president slams gay marriage]

The backlash from supporters of same-sex marriage quickly followed. "Hate to think what they do to the gay chickens!" actor Ed Helms tweeted on July 18. "Lost a loyal fan."

On July 20, Boston Mayor Thomas Menino fired off a letter to Cathy, urging him to abandon plans to expand the Atlanta-based chain to his city.

"Here in Boston, to borrow your own words, we are 'guilty as charged,'" Menino wrote. "We are indeed full of pride for our support of same sex marriage and our work to expand freedom to all people."

Democratic leaders in Chicago, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and San Francisco joined in the anti-Chick-fil-A fray. "Closest #ChickFilA to San Francisco is 40 miles away," San Francisco Mayor Edwin Lee tweeted on July 25. "I strongly recommend that they not try to come any closer."

"Chick-fil-A's values are not Chicago values," Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel told reporters last week. "They're not respectful of our residents, our neighbors and our family members."

[Also read: Boston mayor's letter to Chick-fil-A: Stay out of Boston!]

For progressive mayors, G. Jeffrey MacDonald wrote in the Washington Post, Chick-fil-A is a "Ground Zero Mosque" moment.

Streams of protesters have been showing up at Chick-fil-A restaurants. In Washington, D.C., they brought signs calling for marriage equality: "We got 99 problems and the Chick IS ONE," one sign read. "My boyfriend used to like your waffle fries!" read another.

The Jim Henson Co. announced last week that it would no longer partner with Chick-fil-A for its kids meals.

Conservatives, led by Huckabee, moved to counter the backlash against Chick-fil-A. Huckabee's Aug. 1 event has more 519,000 RSVPs on Facebook, including Rick Santorum, who asked Americans to join him in the "fight for traditional families and eat chicken at the same time."

"I have been incensed at the vitriolic assaults on the Chick Fil-A," Huckabee wrote. "It's a great American story that is being smeared by vicious hate speech and intolerant bigotry from the left."

To counter Huckabee, numerous boycotts ("Eat at KFC Day") and silent protests organized by supporters of same sex marriage are scheduled for Aug. 1. And the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation is backing the National Same-Sex Kiss Day on Aug. 3, to be held at Chick-fil-A restaurants nationwide.

Since being founded by Dan Cathy's father, Truett Cathy, in 1946, all 1,608 Chick-fil-A stores have been closed on Sundays, a day of rest for most Christians. The WinShape Foundation—Chick-fil-A's charitable arm—donated more than $1.1 million between 2003 and 2008 to anti-LGBT groups, doubling that amount to $2 million in 2009.

"We know that it might not be popular with everyone," Cathy said in June, "but thank the Lord, we live in a country where we can share our values and operate on biblical principles."

LZ Granderson, the 2011 National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association's journalist of the year, agrees.

"The last thing anyone, liberal or conservative, should want is local government censoring what a private citizen can say by way of withholding permits and licenses," Granderson wrote on CNN. "So members of the Ku Klux Klan can legally rally and spew hate about black people. Westboro Baptist Church can protest and say terrible things about a soldier during his funeral. And Cathy can say whatever he wants about gay people. That's the U.S. Constitution at work."

[c1ram]

I don't agree with it but totally understand why some - mostly of religious tendency - don't (and will never) believe that marriage should be between anything other than "a woman and a man." And because I don't agree with their actions and beliefs about this institution will I boycott their food? No, I won't. If I enjoyed a Chic-Fil-A before (I haven't tried one) then I will probably purchase one in the future.

[StlouisramsX]

Chick-Fil-A is the bomb. I don't eat fast food anymore, but I remember loving that stuff. Especially for breakfast.

[wv ram]

I don't agree with it but totally understand why some - mostly of religious tendency - don't (and will never) believe that marriage should be between anything other than "a woman and a man." And because I don't agree with their actions and beliefs about this institution will I boycott their food? No, I won't. If I enjoyed a Chic-Fil-A before (I haven't tried one) then I will probably purchase one in the future.

I would. I dont have to cause i dont eat that corporate shit to begin with, but, sure, I'd boycott'em.
I certainly respect your right 'not' to boycott'em.

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[c1ram]

I don't agree with it but totally understand why some - mostly of religious tendency - don't (and will never) believe that marriage should be between anything other than "a woman and a man." And because I don't agree with their actions and beliefs about this institution will I boycott their food? No, I won't. If I enjoyed a Chic-Fil-A before (I haven't tried one) then I will probably purchase one in the future.

I would. I dont have to cause i dont eat that corporate shit to begin with, but, sure, I'd boycott'em.
I certainly respect your right 'not' to boycott'em.

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Yeah, I respect that. Brings me back to when I was growing up....I ate no grapes or ice-berg lettuce all through my younger years because my parents refuse to buy them until California pickers (Chavez movement) had collective bargaining rights. And it worked. The boycott played a huge role in breaking down the growers.

I just find religion and the state and the mixing of the institution and things make this complicated - including for those who have some simple beliefs about this marriage thing.

[zn]

I don't agree with it but totally understand why some - mostly of religious tendency - don't (and will never) believe that marriage should be between anything other than "a woman and a man." And because I don't agree with their actions and beliefs about this institution will I boycott their food? No, I won't. If I enjoyed a Chic-Fil-A before (I haven't tried one) then I will probably purchase one in the future.

I would. I dont have to cause i dont eat that corporate shit to begin with, but, sure, I'd boycott'em.
I certainly respect your right 'not' to boycott'em.

w
v

Yeah, I respect that. Brings me back to when I was growing up....I ate no grapes or ice-berg lettuce all through my younger years because my parents refuse to buy them until California pickers (Chavez movement) had collective bargaining rights. And it worked. The boycott played a huge role in breaking down the growers.

I just find religion and the state and the mixing of the institution and things make this complicated - including for those who have some simple beliefs about this marriage thing.

But...in you giving them leeway to be who they are, they are deliberately campaigning to keep something from someone else.

And someone else's belief about their marriage should not intrude on others.

[wv ram]

Yeah, I respect that. Brings me back to when I was growing up....I ate no grapes or ice-berg lettuce all through my younger years because my parents refuse to buy them until California pickers (Chavez movement) had collective bargaining rights. And it worked. The boycott played a huge role in breaking down the growers.

I just find religion and the state and the mixing of the institution and things make this complicated - including for those who have some simple beliefs about this marriage thing.

Well, i respect your respectfulness. I'm big on simple everyday economic-social-justice-choices. I think the little personal 'boycotts' are about all most of us can 'do' here in the corporotacracy. They are like little 'votes' everyday. Everyday i 'vote' not to eat at McDonalds or shop at Walmart or buy a Caterpillar Bull-dozer...though i'm not all 'religious' about the everyday choice-thing. Once in a while, i end up at those kinds of places. I dont make a big stink about it, if it happens.

I buy organic food, shop for local home-grown stuff, buy clothes at goodwill, etc etc. Its not a perfect approach for all the obvious reasons, but i dont have a better approach.

So, screw Chick-Fil-A, and their corporate chicken. I'm DOUBLE-boycotting them. That'll show'em.

...so far i cant bring myself to boycott Sara Lee cheese-cake though. I mean....nobody doesnt like Sara Lee.

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[nittany ram]

But...in you giving them leeway to be who they are, they are deliberately campaigning to keep something from someone else.

Yeah, plus Chic-fil-a is doing a lot more than campaigning against gay marriage. They are financially supporting anti-gay hate groups and support Uganda's "Kill the Gays" bill....

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David Badash.

Founder and editor, The New Civil Rights Movement

Chick-fil-A: 5 Reasons It Isn't What You Think

Posted: 08/01/2012 9:17 am

Former GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee decreed Wednesday, Aug. 1, to be "Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day." The former Republican governor of Arkansas says he "has been incensed at the vitriolic assaults on the Chick Fil-A company because the CEO, Dan Cathy, made comments recently in which he affirmed his view that the Biblical view of marriage should be upheld."

Of course, not one word of that is accurate, not even that Dan Cathy is the CEO (his dad is), and if you're standing in line waiting for your chicken sandwich and waffle fries, why not take a moment to learn about what Chick-fil-A really does, and -- even if you're opposed to same-sex marriage -- what your money is buying.

Here are five reasons why Chick-fil-A isn't what you think:

1) Chick-fil-A has donated at least $5 million to organizations (including a certified hate group) that, among other things, depict gay people as pedophiles, want to make "gay behavior" illegal, and even say gay people should be "exported" out of America.

Even if you oppose same-sex marriage, do you really want to support a company that advocates putting gay people in jail, or "exporting" them, just because they're gay?

2) Chick-fil-A president Dan Cathy didn't merely say he supports traditional marriage. Dan Cathy said if you support gay marriage, you "are inviting God's judgment on our nation," and that we "shake our fist at Him" when we do. Dan Cathy also said same-sex marriage is the result of a "deprived" mind and called it "twisted up kind of stuff."

Even if you don't support same-sex marriage, do you really think gay marriage is "inviting God's judgment on our nation"? Haven't we all heard enough blame from those who claim to speak for the Lord, like after Katrina or, more recently, after the shooting in Aurora, Colo.?

3) Chick-fil-A supports organizations that have claimed they can change gay people into straight people -- "pray away the gay" -- despite the fact that practically every major medical organization has stated that this is not only impossible but dangerous and harmful.

Even if you don't support same-sex marriage, do you support fake "science" that is known to harm the very people it claims to help?

4) The media keep saying Chick-fil-A has never discriminated, but the truth is that Chick-fil-A has been sued over a dozen times for employment discrimination. That's what a leading business publication, Forbes, stated in 2007, when they also called Chick-fil-A a "cult" and reported that Chick-fil-A's founder and CEO Truett Cathy said he wanted to hire married people because they are more industrious and productive. Truett Cathy has also said he would probably fire someone who "has been sinful or done something harmful to their family members."

Even if you don't support same-sex marriage, do you want to support what some call a "cult" whose CEO says he would fire employees for "being sinful"?

5) Chick-fil-A is just exercising their First Amendment rights by running a business based on the Bible, right? Wrong. There's a line between the "free exercise of religion" and violating the law. If Chick-fil-A is violating the law by discriminating against gay people, or by firing women so that they can be "stay home" moms, as one woman who is suing Chick-fil-A says in court documents, that's not exercising religious expression or free speech, and that's not a First Amendment issue. It may be, if the court decides, a violation of the law.

Even if you don't support same-sex marriage, do you want to support a company that might fire women to force them to be "stay home" moms against their will?

There are plenty of good restaurants that are happy to work hard for your hard-earned dollar. Why support a company that is working so hard to deny people their rights?

Chick-Fil-A Profits Are Supporting Uganda’s ‘Kill The Gays’ Bill?

by David Badash on August 1, 2012

in Bigotry Watch,Discrimination,International,News,Politics,Religion

Are Chick-Fil-A‘s profits supporting the infamous Uganda “Kill The Gays” bill?
Every year, millions of dollars from Chick-Fil-A’s corporate profits are donated to Chick-Fil-A’s wholly-owned non-profit “charity,” the Winshape Foundation. In turn, Winshape donates millions to anti-gay organizations, many of which spend most or all their focus on defeating or repealing same-sex marriage, trying to “pray away the gay,” spreading lies and hate about the LGBT community, and more.

Winshape annually donates to Family Research Council.

In 2010, as Scott Wooledge notes in this excellent graphic above, and details in his post at Daily Kos, the Family Research Council, a certified anti-gay hate group run by Tony Perkins, spent $25,000 lobbying Congress to NOT condemn Uganda’s “Kill The Gays” bill.

For more details, read: “Media Malpractice: Press And Pundits Get Chick-Fil-A Vs. Gay Story Wrong.”

Uganda’s “Kill The Gays” bill, also known as the anti-homosexuality bill, has received worldwide attention for its provision mandating the death penalty for anyone convicted of the “crime” of homosexuality, anyone convicted of same-sex rape, anyone who is classified as a “serial offender,” and even anyone with HIV. Other provisions demand life in prison for being gay or for having same-sex sex. Jail sentences are also mandated for people who simply know someone who is gay and not reporting them to the police within 72 hours.

How many degrees of separation does it take before you get to wash your hands of slime?

[PA Ram]

Well on Chick-Fil-A appreciation day I saw a report with cars and people lined down the block.

There was one lone protester against them.

The religious right is very organized. They're weirdly disciplined to show up for this stuff as if not showing up would mean a ticket to Hell.

And of course they're often funded and guided to look like a grass roots thing

The left? Eh. They were busy.

And they're broke.

[c1ram]

But...in you giving them leeway to be who they are, they are deliberately campaigning to keep something from someone else.

And someone else's belief about their marriage should not intrude on others.

They would see this as keeping holding marriage in its "traditional" sense as a matter of law, not keeping it from someone else. I disagree with that and do believe it intrudes on others.

I just think the main focus should be working to change policy rather than boycott those who think marriage should stay in the same religious tradition as it has up until now. We have tens of thousands of businesses owned by people who believe this. Most of us have people in our own family and/or general acquaintances who believe in this. This is one reason it's taking so long for states to get through these laws.

I don't expect that everyone is going to agree on this subject and everyone will support the policies that closest express their beliefs. But I'm not inclined to boycott particular businesses if the owners have old-fashioned beliefs about marriage.

[nittany ram]

I don't expect that everyone is going to agree on this subject and everyone will support the policies that closest express their beliefs. But I'm not inclined to boycott particular businesses if the owners have old-fashioned beliefs about marriage.

But this goes way beyond just having old-fashioned beliefs about marriage. Chick-fil-a directly and indirectly supports anti-gay hate groups and Uganda's "Kill the Gays" law.

To me that's a pretty good reason to boycott them.

[TrenchRam]

I don't expect that everyone is going to agree on this subject and everyone will support the policies that closest express their beliefs. But I'm not inclined to boycott particular businesses if the owners have old-fashioned beliefs about marriage.

But this goes way beyond just having old-fashioned beliefs about marriage. Chick-fil-a directly and indirectly supports anti-gay hate groups and Uganda's "Kill the Gays" law.

To me that's a pretty good reason to boycott them.

I think Nittany's spot on here. It's not about what the owner believes. It's about what the company is spending money on. I wish that I managed to stay away from fast food altogether, but when I get really busy with work, I wind up hitting the drive-through about once a week. I basically had 3 places I would eat: a local gyro place, Chik-fil-a, and Chipotle. I knew Chik-fil-a was owned by fundamentalists, and had no problem with that. Now I know that when I eat there, I'm directly contributing my money to anti-gay causes. I can't do that with a clear conscience, so no more Chik-fil-a. Oh well. All those kids asking "how can I serve you?" every single time you order always kind of creeped me out anyway. It doesn't look so bad in writing but it's creepy in person.