Intro: "You may think that when you buy a Butterball turkey this Thanksgiving you're as American as apple pie. But, you'd be wrong. In fact, you're the victim of a 'stealth halal' conspiracy."
Beware the Sharia Turkey! (photo: Chuck Kennedy/MCT/Shutterstock)
This Thanksgiving, Beware the Sharia Turkey
24 November 11
ou may think that when you buy a Butterball turkey this Thanksgiving you're as American as apple pie. But, you'd be wrong. In fact, you're the victim of a "stealth halal" conspiracy.
In a column on The American Thinker, anti-Islam blogger Pamela Geller explains that halal meats are already prevalent throughout most of the meat industry, but now they have even infiltrated the popular frozen turkey producer Butterball.
A citizen activist and reader of my website AtlasShrugs.com wrote to Butterball, one of the most popular producers of Thanksgiving turkeys in the United States, asking them if their turkeys were halal. Wendy Howze, a Butterball Consumer Response Representative, responded: "Our whole turkeys are certified halal."
"In a little-known strike against freedom, yet again, we are being forced into consuming meat slaughtered by means of a torturous method: Islamic slaughter," Geller writes.
She continues that if you like freedom and hate sharia, you should boycott Butterball and ask them to stop selling these nefarious birds:
Non-Muslims in America and Europe don't deserve to have halal turkey forced upon them in this way, without their knowledge or consent. So this Thanksgiving, fight for your freedom. Find a non-halal, non-Butterball turkey to celebrate Thanksgiving this Thursday. And write to Butterball and request, politely but firmly, that they stop selling only halal turkeys, and make non-halal turkeys available to Americans who still value our freedoms.
Geller's anti-Sharia cohort Robert Spencer called this revelation "shocking" on his Jihad Watch blog - and touted the "Boycott Butterball Turkey" Facebook page, which so far has 758 "likes" and encourages supporters to "keep calling and writing. All halal should be labeled."
Spencer's not the only one to be outraged.
The site Bare Naked Islam provided this "WARNING" for its readers: "ALL ‘BUTTERBALL' TURKEYS ARE HALAL-SLAUGHTER CERTIFIED. JUST IN TIME FOR THANKSGIVING. I have just learned that the turkeys so many Americans enjoy for the holidays are certified Islamic-blessed, halal-slaughtered birds."
And anti-Islam, anti-bear activist Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association tweeted this warning on Tuesday: "Be advised: every single Butterball turkey sold in America this Thanksgiving has been sacrificed to Allah first."
TPM is awaiting a comment from Butterball, and we'll update when they respond. Meanwhile, stay tuned for our expose on Communist infiltration of the turducken.
Adam Serwer of Mother Jones.
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Comments
We are concerned about a recent drift towards vitriol in the RSN Reader comments section. There is a fine line between moderation and censorship. No one likes a harsh or confrontational forum atmosphere. At the same time everyone wants to be able to express themselves freely. We'll start by encouraging good judgment. If that doesn't work we'll have to ramp up the moderation.
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Still, how scary to think that right-wing repugs are becoming "animal rights activists". I also think it's scary to think the people most against human rights in our own country are worried about human rights violations done in another style.
One commedian found it funny that repugs are both worried about gay rights and sharia law. She said the basic fear is that people will get married on Saturday and have to behead themselves on Sunday.
First the Homeland Security Turkey Fryer warning, now this! Muslim turkeys from
Allah on American plates, is there no end to this nightmare?
PS. (Hahahaha Frankly Pamela, I don't give a damn!).
We are the real turkeys, in our ignorant arrogance.
God, Allah, Great Spirit, etc, may we all wash in Dr Bronner's all one soap, come clean, and quit killing eachother, and the planet which sustains us all.
Truly, we are all one. Happy Giving Thanks, EVERYDAY.....
Ps, go ahaead and look up halal, kosher, etc.
Idiots, it is ALL GOD! Give Thanks, and praise nature and life while we have the chance.
Enough Homeland Insecurity Bullshit.
Occupy your hearts.......
All imaginary...
(not that there isn't something weird about the third dimension, but why think the mystery is solved just because it has been given a name?)
Do it because factory farms are environmentally toxic and leave a wasteland in their wake.
Support sustainable and organic agriculture
Swift Meat Co. many years ago.
Currently one company bought the rights to the Butterball name and there are probably a
dozen turkey processing plants killing turkeys and packing them in a Butterball bag on a custom basis. You had better not boycott Butterball without boycotting the whole Red Meat Industry, most meat that goes for Export meets Muslim requirements.
I live in the Middle East where all meat is halal. When I first came, I had no idea what this meant but, after finding out, I think you have missed a few pertinent facts.
While Halal meat must be killed and drained of blood, it is with a swift cut and a prayer is said. Now, I'm not naive enough to believe that Butterball has someone saying prayers as they slaughter turkeys, but I do believe that less adrenaline is released by this method.
I feel your hysteria is uninformed and only causes problems for people already inundated with a slanted view by the west. Where is the respect for culture?
At the same time, Butterball shouldn't force Eastern practices on the west. But give Muslims a break. They are not all terrorists or Assads.
Quote from the Qur'an:
"God calls for mercy in everything, so be merciful when you kill and when you slaughter, sharpen your blade to relieve its pain".
My suggestion is that you visit the Middle East and find out what halal is really about before starting mass hysteria for people who simply want to enjoy their blessings and a day with their families.
In peace...
iguanab, given that people actually waste their time propogating this kind of moronic thinking, I can understand your reaction.
http://www.marketplace.org/topics/life/unlikely-duo-teams-kosher-halal
Actually, I prefer a Kosher turkey even though not of that faith! No preservatives and all that!
Hey, does the USA have a monopoly on idiots? It sure seems so.
My research on hala and kosher suggest food that is certified and are more acceptable anyway and meat from animals slaughtered in a more humane fashion.
This author is like a lot of people who srtive to segregate rather than integrate.
This is Thanksgiving please lighten up.Time for people to get together in harmony in fellowship.
IF there is anything to boycott it is this author, an extremist striving to divide.
We should be more concerned not how the Turkey is slaughtered but how it grew with toxic stuff and hormones.
It is possible that the "horrible slaughter" label should be amended; there is a farm in PA run by a partnership between Kosher and Halal farmers that raise their animals kindly.
But the final joke is what is considered acceptable by the religious foodies these days: Kosher used to mean that you could get soda made with sugar instead of corn syrup, but now they allow the corn syrup (which is really bad for you). And Butterball? Please, if there is any way to afford it, get your foods from people that don't inject the food with all sorts of fats and additives first. If I were Butterball, I would be crowing that some sort of religious group had given their stamp of approval, because if anybody had any sense, they would eat something raised free-range and without additives. And then, if you are so inclined, say your own prayers around the dinner table.
Happy Thanksgiving. I am thankful that we are not in a civil war, even though there are so many things that need to be changed.
We can just as easily have a vegetarian meal with corn, squash, yams, sweet potatoes, apple sauce, cranberries, etc etc!
Barbarian tribes used to eat a sacrificial animal to bond the tribe. Today, the US, a "modern" nation uses turkeys for the same reason-a national bonding ritual over the slain bodies of turkeys who were raised in hellish factory farms.
According to United Poultry Concerns (www.upc-online.org ) turkey chicks have their toes and beaks cut off so they don't damage each other when crammed together (their "meat" must not be damaged by beaks and claws).
When sent to slaughter, they are hung upside down from shackles on a conveyor belt to the waiting blades wielded by poor whites or desperate immigrants.
Read Jim Mason's An Unnatural Order to understand the link between animal abuse and all the ways humans exploit and abuse each other (racism, sexism, economic exploitation, homophobia etc etc)!
One of the biggest difficulties these days is finding "clean" foods; I don't take anybody's word for it, but we shouldn't be too obsessed. Except that my husband has colon cancer; we think from corn products that were genetically engineered. He used to get corn chips from vending machines at work. But it also could be from corn-fed beef, or corn syrup which is in almost all sweetened drinks. Bring snacks and drinks to work if you can.
- Pork[Quran 2:173]
- Blood[Quran 2:173]
- Animals slaughtered in the name of anyone but Allah. All that has been dedicated or offered in sacrifice to an idolatrous altar or saint or a person considered to be "divine"[Quran 2:173] [Quran 5:3]
- Carrion (carcasses of dead animals)[Quran 2:173]
- An animal that has been strangled, beaten (to death), killed by a fall, gored (to death), savaged by a beast of prey (except by a human)[Quran 5:3]
- Food over which Allah's name is not pronounced (or at least not in a name other than Allah)[Quran 6:121]
- Alcohol and other intoxicants[Qur an 5:090]
- All animals which hunt with claws (lion, eagle, panther, vulture etc.)
To quote a century old piece of Southern scatology & authentic privy-graffiti:
He who writes on s***house walls
Rolls his s*** in little balls.
He who reads those lines of wit
Eats those little balls of s***.
Amen, Brother!
laughing here and want to wish you a happy
Thanks Giving.
Seems if we are to get things done, it's important to lighten up and get down to what's important.
NEVER VOTE REPUBLICAN !!
LOL! Good one Barbara!!
I was raised in a country that believed in religious freedom. That is one of the reasons this country was founded. I think some people have forgotten that.
The God worshipped that gives the meat industry the idea to do these things is CAPITALISM. They wouldn't waste time, energy or money to make ALL turkeys Halal. It would be stupid. It would also be stupid to refuse to sell meat to large portions of the Earth (full of WILLING CUSTOMERS) because some loon with a blog is confused about the facts.
Another irony here, is that companies are willing to do whatever is necessary to sell to a market, yet our government puts few restrictions on food being imported into our own country regarding pesticides.
As bad as the hormones, antibiotics and GMO crops are, pesticides and herbicides are even worse.
And all we get here is a debate of how awful are some non entities blowing wind on blogging sites of the likes of the Gellers and Spencers of this world.
They are the mad and bad leading the misguided.
Their nonsensical views should be anathema to anyone with a semblance of intelligence. Sadly I have to believe a great number of my fellow Americans are too foolish to understand how they are led astray by the views of these truly stupid people.
The blind leading the blind. Butterball turkeys indeed. The poor things must really look forward to Thanksgiving. LOL Sharia or No Sharia.
This concern about halal meat being sneaked (yes this is a word, used mostly in England) into our mouths and somehow contaminating our "vital American fluids" [Dr. Strangelove], again underscores the far right's belief in magical thinking. If they say it, it's true. If they want to believe it, it's true. If you disagree with them, you're trying to destroy America.
Most of the nervous nellies who agree with your statement have never actually met any Muslims. Not only is the West unbelievably far from "Islamisation", but there's a profound irony in the lack of basic Christianity in the nervous nellies.
Such breathtaking hypocricy!
How many more generations do you think it will take before American Muslims can safely cross the street without risk of being followed by the FBI and sent to Guantanamo?
I'm A LOT more worried about the birth rate of people like you, because the real problem here is the conservative religious belief that one's own beliefs are the only ones that should be tolerated.
Is your "Muslim friend" as filled with hatred for other Muslims as you are?
It offers a PERFECT SOLUTION to all of your worries. It's called the SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE. I don't think you need to lose any more sleep.
The separation of church and state guaranteed by the 1st Amendment GUARANTEES that our country will be completely sharia-proof forever. So, what's the big problem? The only problem I can see is with people who are constantly trying to undermine our NATIONAL SECURITY by acting like terrorists to:
1. get enforced prayer in public schools,
2. blow up doctors who disagree with their views on pregnancy to intimidate the electorate into changing the Constitution
3. make things like gay marriage illegal, due to personal religious opinions
4. try to convince the rest of us that this is "a Christian nation" contrary to the very words of the founding fathers.
Actually, I could go on and on and on, because the right-wing "christian" threats to our Constitution are never ending.
If you want to prevent "the sharia law menace", then GET BEHIND THE U.S. CONSTITUTION and KEEP RELIGION OUT OF POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT PERMANENTLY.
If you disagree, you're either pro-sharia law, or a terrorist, or both.
That's all there is to it! If people can't make laws based on religious beliefs ther IS NO SHARIA "LAW". END OF STORY. If they can, we open up a can of worms that allows sharia law to be possible.
Multiculturalism is the ONLY ACCEPTABLE result of the separation of church and state. Legislating what people can and cannot believe as part of their own religion is ANTI-CONSTITUTI ONAL AND ANTI-AMERICAN.
Without multiculturalis m, the beliefs you claim to have supporting that separation are nothing but a very transparent lie. YOUR sharia law isn't any better than someone else's.
You CAN'T disagree with my last sentence and agree with the rest of it. I'm a conservative about this. In other words, yer either with me or agin' me.
So which is it? Do you love your country? If you can't stand multiculturalis m, then you HATE THE CONSTITUTION, THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AND YOUR MAMMA.
Are you a terrorist? OR ARE YOU WILLING TO LET OTHER PEOPLE FOLLOW THEIR OWN RELIGIOUS BELIEFS ANY WAY THEY SEE FIT?
You CAN'T claim to be for the U.S. Constitution and then bitch about "multiculturali sm". Unless you're 100% Native American you have 0% chance of winning an argument based on logic that we need LESS multiculturalis m. If you don't like it, go back to Europe or wherever else your ancestors came from. You have ABSOLUTELY NO AUTHORITY to preach about this subject and the added touch of claiming to care about the First Amendment just makes you a HYPOCRITE as well.
If you want to win this argument, here's a hint. Stop whining about whatever is or isn't happening in foreign countries. This is about AMERICA. LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT. If you don't like the First Amendment, go somewhere else.
You can't have it both ways. If you love AMERICA, then support the multicultural result of the U.S. Constitution.
-First of all, if you're only a New Zealand citizen and NOT an American citizen this is frankly none of your business.
-I assume you have some ties to the U.S. or you wouldn't bother going out of your way to join this conversation, so I'm treating you like an American.
-New Zealand has 4.5 million people. The U.S. has 330 million. It's going to take a lot longer for the about 2 million American Muslims to become even a sizeable minority, much less a majority.
-Perhaps you don't even understand the First Amendment. In the U.S. we don't have a pure democracy. We have a compromise between a republic and a democracy. NO ONE can safely enact sharia law in any city, country, state or portion of the U.S. without changing the U.S. Constitution. Even a local majority can't use the vote to enact any local legislation which would overrule the First Amendment to the Constitution.
-The ONLY way sharia law could EVER become the law here would be another Constitutional Amendment, which is so hard to enact that one hasn't been added in decades.
-If local Muslims want to commit hate crimes, they won't be any more dangerous than "Christian" hate crime offenders. We've been there and done that.
- I guess that says it all. A bit like dismissing me because I'm coloured, or gay, or Mexican - You have clarified for me what you mean by multiculturalis m. Apparently I'm not really entitled to a viewpoint even though I'm a citizen of the world, a world that is curently dominated by American foreign policy - whether I like it or not. So, yes, I have an interest and a viewpopint on what happens in America, because it ultimately affects me and the people I love and care about. I have no other ties to the US. Even though I'm 'only a New Zealand citizen' I care about what is happening in your country - where America goes effects us all. Although you consider that what is happening in the US is 'frankly none of your (my) business', I beg to differ.
Finally, although you are confident that the separation of church and state will protect you from Sharia, this original article about halal turkey indicates that Sharia already has at least a toe hold in America - halal is a faith based requirement for slaughter - apparently your first amendment is not as Sharia-proof as you might like to think it is. And no, I'm not 'Soundthealarm' . I actually use my own given name and will continue to do so.
OH, BUT THERE'S A HUGE DIFFERENCE.
If you were a gay AMERICAN, I'd want to know what you have to say.
If you were a Mexican AMERICAN, I'd want to know what you have to say.
If you were an AFRICAN AMERICAN, I'd want to know what you have to say (by the way, unless your a member of the ku klux klan, it's not "colored")...
BUT YOU'RE NOT.
YOU'RE NOT AN AMERICAN, SO IT'S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS.
DEAL WITH IT.
1. That you're NOT an American citizen AT ALL, but still feel entitled to tell the REAL American citizens how to conduct our own INTERNAL affairs.
Do you like American foreign policy policing the rest of the world. Would you like the U.S. to replace your government with one we like better? This isn’t about international affairs. It’s about AMERICAN DOMESTIC POLICY. In other words, MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS.
2. What is this "toe hold" on America that you're fantasizing about? Is the idea that a multi-national company selling turkeys in the U.S. would actually obey the regulations of foreign countries a problem for you? TOO BAD. That's capitalism.
Those turkeys sold in the U.S. are NOT halal. THE WHOLE THING WAS A BIG FAT LIE TOLD BY A BIG FAT LIAR.
So, what do you do when someone is lying to you, but the lie fits a personal agenda you already have? Do you just run with it as though it were the truth? Apparently, that's your strategy. It's not working though.
The fact that the entire warning was based on a lie is one thing. But, let's say it were true. How would a turkey being slaughtered more humanely be a threat to America?
If butterball wants to perform a black mass over their turkeys it is still up to consumers whether or not to buy the meat.
I think the turkey I ate was shot by a sniper, unarmed, and on its way to visit its mom. You know, the good old American way.
The Christianizatio n of the west was a bitch too.
or not to eat....?
THAT is the question.
I believe one of the differences is in what one derives from the religious experience. To some it's a personal thing and can make all of life more meaningful. To others, it's an outward badge of tribalism. The tribalists are the ones giving religion a bad name for the rest of humanity
I think Darwin had it wrong. Humans are DE-evolving.
I went got my 22 went to one of my chickens, away from all the animals put a bullet in its head, then slit its throat immediately to drain the blood. I know that this was done from the beginning. I too say prayer when I eat that meat, for the food on my plate. I have given many to others.
We have been eating Kosher and other types of meat forever, now we are so into our hatred of others we actually care about the Turkey. I wonder if these people have ever seen the egg layers and the meat chickens for your restaurants and their conditions they live in, the way they die in cages with poop as tall as the cage. then workers flinging live birds thru the air.
Yes America really has class in raising anials. Feeds them Sewage, Food with Poison, pens them up to suffocate so yes anti muslim morons, eat all the other crap you want. I will take a good ol butterball, a Nathan's Frank any day.
By the way I just ate one of my chickens, it was killed Kosher/halal as Jesus ate it!
To: Jillian Rayfield of TPMMuckraker
and to the Editor of Reader
Supported News
You need to choose your sources more carefully. The website of Bare Naked Islam, the source of the Halal slaughtered turkey story, is a hate mongering entity set upon destroying any kind of peaceful relationship between Muslims and anyone else. Any source whose sole purpose is the destruction of any other group of people cannot be trusted or believed and using it as the source of news only assists it in setting one group of Americans against another.
Anyway, go on the web site of the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and you will see that in 2006 PETA has already filed a lawsuit against the producers of Butterball turkeys. PETA has photographic evidence of their employees stomping, and striking turkeys against walls (not anything to do with Halal or Sharia)
.
Sign the PETA petition.
Shame on you for propagandizing such crap against a particular group of people
and fomenting hate against them.
Shariah (lit. a path, a way) is the product of Muslim jurists who use the Qur’an, the extra-Qur’anic accounts of Mohammed’s teachings, analogical reasoning, and consensus to create Muslim law. There are certain characteristics of Shariah that have been apparent since its inception in the 7th century which I will not describe as it is easy to research them. Suffice it to say that the goal is not to co-exist but rather to replace our system. We are label Islamophobic if we resist,please wake up people, stop mocking those who are raising the alarm and get active yourself in resisting this monster before it is too late for you, your family and your friends.
That "sharia law creep" is so slow as to be totally invisible to the objective eye. Of course, if we sprinkle in a conservative dose of wildly bizarre magical thinking we can imagine anything we want.
Personally, I'm a LOT more worried about the slow creep of giant invisible pink elephants flying invisible black U.N. hellicopters trying to scramble C.B. signals in the rural South, than I am about this. It would be a lot more believable.
I think you should stick to worrying about bigfoot and U.F.O.s. Maybe you could "soundthealarm" about that.
By the way, Andrew, You didn't just re-log in as "soundthealarm" on the basis of your alarmist panic over this one right-wing fantasy did you? That would be a HUGE and comical waste of time.
The separation of church and state guaranteed by the 1st Amendment GUARANTEES that our country will be completely sharia-proof forever. So, what's the big problem? The only problem I can see is with people who are constantly trying to undermine our NATIONAL SECURITY by acting like terrorists to:
1. get enforced prayer in public schools,
2. blow up doctors who disagree with their views on pregnancy to intimidate the electorate into changing the Constitution
3. make things like gay marriage illegal, due to personal religious opinions
4. try to convince the rest of us that this is "a Christian nation" contrary to the very words of the founding fathers.
Actually, I could go on and on and on, because the right-wing "christian" threats to our Constitution are never ending.
If you want to prevent "the sharia law menace", then GET BEHIND THE U.S. CONSTITUTION and KEEP RELIGION OUT OF POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT PERMANENTLY.
If you disagree, you're either pro-sharia law, or a terrorist, or both.
Thank You, W.B.
Close but no cigar. "Kosher" means "proper."
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