Pave: Fat Lot Of Good Finale

Le jour 368 de Sarko

Foie gras is a diseased, rotting organ of an abused animal with a high price tag slapped onto it.

PETA,
describing foie gras in the course of bemoaning
the impermanence of Chicagoan politics
May 14, 2008 (Chicago Tribune)

A franchouille -- we hardly know how to credit him as he posts under so many names -- alerts us to Chicago's repeal of its foie gras ban.

CITY COUNCIL REVERSES FOIE GRAS BAN

CHICAGO May 14, 2008 (Chicago Tribune) - With Mayor Richard Daley running the vote, the Chicago City Council on Wednesday repealed its controversial ban on foie gras.

Over the shouted objections of Ald. Joe Moore (49th), the ban's sponsor, the council used a parliamentary manuever to put the ordinance on the floor for a vote.

The council voted 37-6* to repeal the two-year-old ban, which critics argued had made Chicago--and the City Council--a national laughingstock.

FOIE-GRAS BAN LIFTED, CHICAGO CHEFS RELIEVED

CHICAGO May 14, 2008 (Chicago Tribune) - "Restaurateurs are so happy and ecstatic," said a jubilant [French-born chef/owner of Cyrano's Bistrot & Wine Bar] Didier Durand , who as co-founder of Chicago Chefs for Choice led the fight against the foie-gras ban. "This is a delicacy that traces back 5,000 years; we don’t need a ban." [Actually 4,500 years.]

... Charlie Trotter, whose renouncement of foie gras at his restaurant inspired Ald. Joe Moore (49th) to introduce the foie-gras-ban ordinance, said the repeal wouldn’t affect him at all.

"I was never in favor of the ban to begin with,"Trotter said. " was appalled when Joe Moore decided to list my name as an advocate of this point of view. He wanted me to come out and support this thing. I have my own reasons for not serving this product, but don’t get me involved in his mess."

FOIE GRAS PROTEST AT CITY HALL DRAWS 80

CHICAGO May 16, 2008 (Chicago Tribune) - About 80 protesters upset about the repeal of Chicago's foie gras ban are holding a candlelight vigil outside City Hall Friday night.

... But not many people are around to notice the protest, which began hours after City Hall closed for the week.

PRICEY DISEASED, ROTTING ORGAN. YUMMY.
Charcoal-Grilled Roast Duck Foie Gras,
Bomba Rice Sprinkles, Aswim In Sea Lettuce Broth,
Chez Mugaritz, San Sebastian, Spain
[Picture source: rwapplewannabe]

Slamming on the caps lock, our excitable franchouille gleefully types:

CHICAGO SURRENDERS TO THE FRENCHIES !!!**

Our franchouille thinks this a fell wound, using exclamations to stab! And stab! And stab! [Pause.] But there is no wound.

First, our franchouille is unaware apparently that his English styling suggests his own surprise at such an improbable victory, that he is gobsmacked someone has surrendered to "the Frenchies".

Second, Pave has already remarked on the ban here and here, where -- without defending foie gras's production methods -- we ridicule the ban and its sponsor, Ald. Moore.

Pave decries government nannyism generally, but more to the point, we think that public evils should be opposed based on consistently applied principles not as pick-and-choose causes. In our original post we remarked:

Pave holds no brief for foie gras. Gavaging is bizarre and cruel. But then so is everyday butchery to the non-butcher. So is industrial chicken or pig farming. Veal, Kobe beef, lobster -- all these smack of cruelty if you are inclined to be smacked. Most everything you eat arrives in the mouth by some circuit of suffering.

In the case of the PETA people and their ilk, their consistently applied principles seek to diminish man in Nature as diapered chimpanzees and distraught daisies are advanced.

------------------------------------
* The council had originally voted near-unanimously for the ban, 48-1.

** As with all his posts, our franchouille insinuates but does not explicate. Why the repeal constitutes a surrender is a mystery, as all the story principals are Chicagoans.

PFFT (What is this?): Revenant foie gras 3½ | Surrender to "Frenchies" 0 | Rayonnement français 0

Posted by Damian at May 17, 2008 09:30 PM