Fool Gras
Oh, sure, guns have killed 127 people in Philadelphia thus far in 2006, including many children and one police officer. And voter turnout for yesterday's primary election was about 15 percent. And you can go to a restaurant or bar here and the guy next to you can spew known carcinogens into the air you breathe. But City Councilman Jack Kelly is focusing on a bigger issue: He wants to make Philadelphia safe for geese and ducks.
Kelly plans to introduce legislation soon that will ban the sale of foie gras in Philadelphia. "It's torture," Kelly is quoted as saying in this article in The Philadelphia Inquirer, which goes on to note Kelly's opposition to smoking bans in the same restaurants that might be selling foie gras. "As far as I know, the cigarette industry doesn't torture anybody," he said, displaying the crackerjack logical thinking that seems to pervade City Council here.
Quack, quack.
Kelly plans to introduce legislation soon that will ban the sale of foie gras in Philadelphia. "It's torture," Kelly is quoted as saying in this article in The Philadelphia Inquirer, which goes on to note Kelly's opposition to smoking bans in the same restaurants that might be selling foie gras. "As far as I know, the cigarette industry doesn't torture anybody," he said, displaying the crackerjack logical thinking that seems to pervade City Council here.
Quack, quack.
posted by FCB at 8:48 AM
1 Comments:
Is it all of the years of playing "duck, duck, goose"? I've never understood this issue. If you are opposed to foie gras, don't eat it. That's how people uncomfortable with how veal is raised, for example, deal with it. And for that matter, beef, chicken, and all those boiled alive lobsters. Raising animals to kill them and eat them is not an attractive business, even at its most "humane." One recent article described a "free range" chicken farm the reporter visited as having, outside the football field-size chicken house, a fenced field. The chickens were "free range," apparently, because the farmer left the door open, so the chickens could amble in the field. However, as the reporter pointed out, the chickens were too stupid or disinterested to actually go outside. Eat meat. Don't eat meat. Eat foie gras. Or don't. But the idea that this is a government issue or that the treatment of these ducks and geese is substantially worse than other animals we raise to eat is ridiculous. And, unlike the cigarette ban issue, no one imposes the eating of meat or foie gras on anyone - we all get to make these choices for ourselves; unlike the smokers, who impose their smoke on me; or the gangbangers, who impose their violence on this City. As for the torture issue, someone should get a pulmonary specialist to have a chat with Kelly to discuss the impact on smoking on the lungs - the slow suffocation that is emphysema. Or, better yet, talk with someone suffering through the ravages of years of smoking . . .
-- A friend in Philly
Post a Comment
<< Home