Since I don’t eat at Burger King or watch television commercials, I was shocked to see this sign today.
Just out of curiosity, when did Burger King stop using the phrase “Flame Broiled” to describe its food and why?
Is it because BK ran focus groups and discovered that people weren’t smart enough to know what it meant?
And can you still “Have it your way?”
I taught the Communist Manifesto in my “Liberalism and its Critics” class this morning.
If I continue to channel Marx now that I’ve left the classroom, I suppose what I say is the real problem is that anyone thinks a $15 wage somehow fixes any of these workers’ problems (or ours, more broadly).
Does $15/hour mean that these workers are now less alienated from their labor or that they’re now more likely to transcend the subsistence level existence they’re eking out in NYC?
Humane Slaughter of Animals
My friend Cary Grossman passed along an interesting paper on kosher slaughter, written by Rabbi Mayer Rabinowitz and adopted in 2001 by the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards of the Conservative movement’s Rabbinical Assembly.
Called “A Stunning Matter,” the paper considers whether or not it is permitted to stun an animal after the throat has been cut (shechitah; שחיטה) and includes as an appendix a letter from Dr. Temple Grandin that addresses animal welfare (amongst other topics related to the meat produced by slaughtering with this method).
The paper concludes that stunning after shechitah is permissible.
More recently, the Rabbinical Assembly clarified that the paper “is intended to be a resource for individual rabbis making determinations for their communities. It does not reflect the public policy of the Rabbinical Assembly.”
Regardless of their statement about public policy, the paper pretty clearly suggests that there are permissible ways to slaughter animals that are more humane than those that are currently practiced.
As Grossman noted in a Facebook discussion of the matter, the adoption of this paper by the Conservative CJLS has no effect on kosher slaughterhouses in the United States, as kosher slaughter is effectively controlled by the Orthodox community. The argument of Orthodox rabbis, I think, would revolve around the necessity of an animal being “sensible” at the time of shechitah until the time of death.
But I would be interested to hear why Judaism ought not to adopt a way of understanding sensibility that allows for post-shechitah stunning in order to make kosher slaughter more humane; to me, it seems an obvious move to make.
The Florida Department of Corrections agreed to serve kosher food to Jewish inmates, ending a five-year struggle that saw the US Justice Department file a lawsuit against the state.
Most interesting is the praise offered by members of the Jewish community:
“The Jewish community would like to thank governor Rick Scott profusely for arranging that kosher food will be available to Jewish inmates in Florida,” said Rabbi Menachem Katz of the Aleph Institute.
“This is a major milestone,” said Katz. “We want to thank the governor for understanding the importance of religious freedom in the United States of America.”
I guess that’s better than saying, “Thanks for putting an end to infringement on religious freedom by your state after you got sued by the Justice Department for infringing on religious freedom.”
My version seems more accurate, though.
Daddy Blogging
It is becoming increasingly clear to me that my youngest child suffers from some sort of milk-induced insanity.
To wit:
Every time I sit down to give her a bottle, she begins thrashing around, flailing her arms and legs, making horrific grunting and choking noises, and spitting milk. This causes me to remove the bottle.
At which point she becomes a complete rage monster.
So the bottle returns. And the above repeats.
After two or three iterations, she calms down and drinks happily from the bottle. When she finishes the bottle and I try a second bottle, the above repeats as though she has never taken a bottle before in her young life, let alone thirty-five seconds ago.
Please advise or commiserate.
So … here’s an actual thing that happened this morning here in Nebraska:
A Lincoln Valentino’s restaurant became a drive-thru when a man crashed his car through the front door and then ordered a pizza.
The crash happened Wednesday just before Noon at the restaurant located near 70th & Vine Streets.
The woman who called 911 and Lincoln Fire and Rescue said the driver ordered the pizza while he was waiting for emergency crews to arrive.
I heartily recommend my new favorite Tumblr blog, Jews For Cheeses, run by the inimitable Seth Masket.
I’ve already starting submitting ideas, like the above poster (featuring two Jews in a movie that’s (sort of) about eating cheese):
Gets a 72% from Rotten Tomatoes. Not too shabby. (h/t Ari Kohen)
Chinese Food
Tonight, as is our custom, we’ll be eating Chinese food.
Alas, the whole family isn’t feeling well enough to make it to the annual Chinese buffet dinner at our synagogue.
Keeping in mind that meat is not an option in our house, what — specifically — should we order?
Michigan State is playing in the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl? Delicious!
As a side note, I love that this is the 24th Annual Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl and that the quote from Kathy Benning, Buffalo Wild Wings executive vice president is this:
“As we kick of our first major sponsorship with this bowl game, we extend our congratulations to the TCU Horned Frongs and the Michigan State Spartans.”
This game, of course, used to be the http://www.Insight.com Bowl and, before that, the Copper Bowl.
Will I watch? Sure. Will I eat Buffalo Wild Wings? Alas, not until they make a kosher version.
![Pictures of Hipsters Taking Pictures of Food is my new favorite Tumblr.
[And also I’m pleased not to find a picture of myself there]
HT: Nick Wasserman.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/f8854650c7540cbc2b32ccd495f557bf/tumblr_mhyhxgA14o1qdm5oto1_500.jpg)
