Food Stamps For Fast Food

The parent company of Taco Bell, KFC, and Pizza Hut is lobbying the Kentucky government to allow the use of food stamps in their stores.

Currently Kentucky's Food Assistance Program provides money to those in need to buy food -- but that does not include fast food. Yum! says the elderly, disabled, and homeless should be able to use food stamps to buy hot meals, especially those unable to cook. But members of the African-American Think Tank disagree, as Rev. Gerome Sutton explains: "What that will ultimately do is, it will affect the health and well-being of our community and drive up the cost of health care for the state."

Herman Cain Makes It Official

The former CEO of Godfather's Pizza has never held elected office and wants to start at the top.

INDIANA: University Students Continue Battle To Boot Chick-Fil-A Off Campus

Michael Jones reports at Change.org:

"Students impacted by the continued presence of Chick-fil-A on campus have come forward today to file formal discrimination complaints within the Judicial Affairs office of the university against the university's Chancellor, Una Mae Reck," said Jason Moreno, a student at IUSB and a spokesperson for the Civil Rights Student Association. "Chancellor Reck has continued to proactively purchase goods from this vendor for the purpose of resale on campus despite all evidence proving the damage it causes the students she's charged to protect. These purchases aren't automatic, but rather she's making the conscious decision to do this every week on her own authority and of her own volition, with full knowledge of the overwhelming evidence that shows she's participating in the promotion of discrimination.”

South Bend's ABC affiliate filed the below report.

Eat Mor H8

As part of their "BUYcott" of Chick-Fil-A, the American Family Association wants its members to hand-deliver the above card to restaurant staffers.

MISSOURI: Chamber Of Commerce Cancels Speech By Chick-Fil-A President

Responding to complaints from LGBT activists, a St. Louis-area chamber of commerce has canceled a planned speech by Chick-Fil-A president Dan Cathy over his company's affiliation with the Family Resource Institute, an SPLC-certified hate group.

The decision to cancel Cathy's March 18 presentation here was made after PROMO, a statewide organization that advocates for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality, protested his appearance and asked Focus and the Chamber of Commerce to reconsider. Ellen Gale, the head of the chamber, said today that when the groups agreed to co-sponsor Cathy's appearance, they had no idea he held controversial views. We are a pro-diversity culture here and certainly don't want to offend anyone," Gale said. "We didn't know anything about this when he was booked." Focus said in a statement that inclusion and acceptance for all people in the community is a core principal of the organization.

Stand by for the screams of outrage about those damned homofascists.

(Tipped by JMG reader Jeff)

Quote Of The Day - Dan Cathy

"In recent weeks, we have been accused of being anti-gay. We have no agenda against anyone. At the heart and soul of our company, we are a family business that serves and values all people regardless of their beliefs or opinions. We seek to treat everyone with honor, dignity and respect, and believe in the importance of loving your neighbor as yourself. We also believe in the need for civility in dialogue with others who may have different beliefs. While my family and I believe in the Biblical definition of marriage, we love and respect anyone who disagrees. [snip]

"Chick-fil-A's Corporate Purpose is 'To glorify God by being a faithful steward of all that is entrusted to us, and to have a positive influence on all who come in contact with Chick-fil-A.' As a result, we will not champion any political agendas on marriage and family. This decision has been made, and we understand the importance of it. At the same time, we will continue to offer resources to strengthen marriages and families. To do anything different would be inconsistent with our purpose and belief in Biblical principles." - Chick-Fil-A president Dan Cathy, claiming to have ended his company's support of the anti-gay marriage movement.

RELATED: The New York Times covers the controversy.

Taco Bell Fires Back At Ingredients Lawsuit With Superhero Cartoon Series

In response to the lawsuit contending that they don't use what the USDA defines as "beef" in their products, Taco Bell has taken the unusual step of mocking the suit with a series of retro superhero cartoons, a move NPR finds surprisingly amusing.

(Tipped by JMG reader David)

INDIANA: Chick-Fil-A Booted From College Campus Over Anti-Gay Donations

Indiana University's campus in South Bend has removed Chik-Fil-A as a food vendor over reports that the company backs anti-gay hate groups. Chick-Fil-A did not have a physical on-campus South Bend store and only sold meals one day a week.

News of the ban spread quickly, prompting Chick-fil-A's president to release an online statement defending his company. "Providing food to these events or any event is not an endorsement of the mission, political stance or motives of this or any other organization,” said Chick-fil-A President Dan Cathy. “Any suggestion otherwise is just inaccurate." Some IU South Bend students don't see things the same way. "Providing food is equal to donating money,” said IU South Bend junior Erin Rempala. “So you must believe in the cause to donate the food."

Dan Cathy is, of course, lying, as has been extensively documented by Jeremy Hooper at Good As You. Chick-Fil-A still has two full restaurants operating on IU campuses in Indianapolis and Bloomington.

Taco Bell Lawsuit: That's Not Beef

Taco Bell has been hit with a lawsuit which claims that what the company describes as "ground beef" does not meet the USDA's definition.

The suit claims that Taco Bell's meat-like offering is filled with extenders and other non-meat substances listed in the lawsuit like water, "Isolated Oat Product," wheat oats, soy lecithin, maltodrextrin, anti-dusting agent, autolyzed yeast extract, modified corn starch and sodium phosphate as well as beef and seasonings. Yum! As the USDA definition in the lawsuit says, to be called "ground beef," the product must "consist of chopped fresh and/or frozen beef with or without seasoning and without the addition of beef fat as such, shall not contain more than 30 percent fat, and shall not contain added water, phosphates, binders, or extenders."

The company has responded to the suit with a carefully-worded non-denial: "Taco Bell prides itself on serving high quality Mexican inspired food with great value." Some commenters on the above-linked Consumerist article note that taco filling is traditionally full of "extenders" and that what Taco Bell serves is not unusual.

Starbucks' Trenta

I'm not getting all this hubbub about the new supersize Starbucks cup. How is this any different than a Big Gulp?

Today In Hot Advertising

Via AdRants: "For Caribou Coffee, Colle+McVoy created transit shelters in Minneapolis that look like ovens, complete with real heaters, to highlight the "Hot 'n Wholesome" goodness of Caribou Coffee's new menu items."

Chick-Fil-A's President Responds

Dan Cathy, president and COO of Chick-Fil-A, has just posted this video to the company's Facebook page in which he responds to the recent publicity surrounding his company's years-long history of supporting anti-gay groups. Cathy says that while "marriage has always been a priority for Chick-Fil-A," just because his company provides sandwiches to an anti-gay hate group, that doesn't mean they don't respect all their customers. A sample comment from the company's FB page, where pro-gay messages are being scrubbed: "Sodomy isn't love. Calling sin sin is not hypocrisy. Supporting what is right and good is not evil."

Chick-Fil-A Has Deep Anti-Gay Affiliations

Yesterday Chick-Fil-A finally addressed the news that it was sponsoring an anti-gay marriage seminar hosted by the Pennsylvania Family Institute.

"To our Facebook community: First and foremost, thanks for your patience as we made sure we gathered the facts in regards to recent postings. We have determined that one of our independent Restaurant Operators in Pennsylvania was asked to provide sandwiches to two Art of Marriage video seminars," said the restaurant. "As our fans, you know we do our best to serve our local communities, and one of the ways we do that is by providing food to schools, colleges, civic groups, businesses, places of worship, not-for-profit groups, etc. At his discretion, the local Operator agreed to simply provide a limited amount of food. Our Chick-fil-A Operators and their employees try very hard every day to go the extra mile in serving ALL of our customers with honor, dignity and respect."

That seems to be a reasonable response, right? Oh, but hang on. Good As You's dogged Jeremy Hooper has uncovered extensive ties between Chick-Fil-A's charitable arm, the WinShape Foundation, and virtually all of the major organizations fighting marriage equality, including NOM's Ruth Institute, which famously demanded that gays return the "Christian rainbow." So much for "honor, dignity and respect." Chick-Fil-A's press release is nothing by lying bullshittery. Hit the link for the evidence.

Chick-Fil-A Vanishes From Anti-Gay Event

Sharp-eyed JMG reader Steven notes that Chick-Fil-A has mysteriously vanished from the site that only hours ago trumpeted their sponsorship of next month's event by the anti-gay Pennsylvania Family Institute. This change comes less than 24 hours after Good As You alerted the gay blogosphere that the famously "traditional values" oriented company was aligning with another hate group. The company, whose mission statement says they "exist to glorify God," has been a major contributor to Focus On The Family for many years.

UPDATE: The company has issued the below tweet.

Another Reason To Boycott Chick-Fil-A

Not that we really needed another one.

(Via - Good As You)

Do Not Want

The Brussel Sprouts Whopper, now on sale at Burger King in the UK. Surprisingly, it's not going over too well.

The McRib Is Back

The famed McRib, the greasy pork sandwich whose fanatical devotees were parodied on The Simpsons, is back on the McDonald's menu beginning today. Gothamist reports on the marketing push:

The McRib will be available through December 5th, and to help make The Simpsons parody a reality, McDonald's is "inviting McRib fans to tap into their creative passion with the launch of The Legends of McRib website." The site collects "McRib stories and tall tales submitted by fans who want to share their love for the sandwich with the world. The legends don’t have to be true. They don’t have to even be possible. They just have to be bigger than life and worthy of The Legends of McRib." The winner gets a trip to Germany (the only country that sells McRibs year round) and his or her story animated into cartoon that McDonald's can use for marketing (and that you can use to get laid).

I admit without shame, I love the McRib.

Chicken McNuggets

This is how Chicken McNuggets look before they are colored and flavored to look like what you get in the little box.

(Via - Buzzfeed)

McFarthest Spot: 115 Miles

According to Consumerist, the mcfarthest you can be from a McDonald's in the Lower 48 states is 115 miles. As the crow flies, not by car, in northwestern Nevada. Plan your travel accordingly.

New From Denny's

The fried cheese melt. Not as gross looking as the Double Down or the Donut Burger.