meanwhile, just to show that stupid knows no season ...

[realthog]

New York Magazine's Daily Intel service has the whole horrific story of yet another way in which our fundamental freedoms are being subverted:

Halal Turkeys Are Tainting Thanksgiving, Says Pamela Geller

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

But... Bonkers.

[realthog.livejournal.com]

But... Bonkers.

Ha! This could not have been better put!

[mastadge.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately this crap isn't limited to internet crazies. The Netherlands is looking to ban halal and kashrut slaughter, for "animal welfare" reasons. Because a cleanly and quickly slit throat is so much more horrific than "humane" methods like . . . stunning the animal first by puncturing its skull with a captive bolt gun. Obviously religious prejudices have nothing to do with it.

Yes, I know there have been occasional horror stories of "halal" butchers hacking away with dull blades, but then, there's no shortage of evidence of our humane stunning failing, leaving animals conscious on the assembly line to be boiled alive or dismembered or whatever, whichever comes first depending on breed and factory farm location.

[mastadge.livejournal.com]

Crap. Sorry about the botched tag.

[realthog.livejournal.com]

I'll let you off this time.

[realthog.livejournal.com]

To be honest, I have no idea what conventional slaughter standards are in the Netherlands; it may very well be that practices there are a lot better regulated than they are here. So, for all I know, their point may be a valid one.

[chalcedony.livejournal.com]

So my turkey is kosher, then? Okay.

Have a happy Thanksgiving.

[realthog.livejournal.com]

So my turkey is kosher, then

Not if it has butter in it.

[daisytells.livejournal.com]

Yes!

[realthog.livejournal.com]

Happy Thanksgiving to you, too, Daisy! I hope you've had a jolly day of it. Pam and I are just about to sit down and try a tofurkey roast for the first time. (We'd never have bought one, but the local supermarket was offering it as an alternative to turkey for their T'giving freebie, and as neither of us is much enamored of turkey we thought we'd give it a whirl . . .)

[daisytells.livejournal.com]

Kosher poultry is slaughtered the same way, by cutting the carotid, the jugular and the esophagus with a very sharp knife. Consciousness is quickly lost due to lowering of blood pressure. So, what is the problem? Is it the religious endorsement on these birds? That might be out of line here in the USA, unless the makers of Butterballs (no butter, just oil is used) label the birds as certified for halal, kosher, and other faiths, or even no faith at all. How about labelling them as "humanely slaughtered" which is what the halal birds are?

[realthog.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure that halal/kosher slaughter is as humane as all that. The difficulty, I think, is that modern slaughter techniques should be far more humane, but can be horrific if done sloppily . . . and we're too disgusting as a culture for, very often, people to care much if the standards are being upheld.

The ironic thing is that, if the meat industry did bother to spend that extra two cents making sure slaughtering (and all the rest of animal husbandry) was done properly, they wouldn't be finding increasing numbers of people cutting down on or eliminating their meat consumption.

Is wot I think.