Month: August 2012

Jesus’ favorite chicken sandwich

by digby

Those who read this blog know that I think it was wrong for certain Democratic politicians to threaten to block the building of Chick-fil-A on the basis of homophobic comments by its owner. And those politicians have since thought better of their comments. Free speech is free speech. Meanwhile, it’s “Chick-fil-A appreciation day” around the country and conservatives are patronizing the restaurants as a sign of solidarity. Again, it’s their right to do that and it’s my right to never set foot in one of them. I hope it works out for them.

But regardless of everyone’s free speech and “vote with your pocketbook” rights, it remains the case that Chick-fil-A is a very unusual company:

Chick-fil-A’s corporate mission, as stated on a plaque at company headquarters (and by Cathy), is to “glorify God.” It is the only national fast-food chain that closes on Sunday so operators can go to church and spend time with their families; franchisees who don’t go along with the rule risk having their contracts terminated. Company meetings and retreats include prayers, and the company encourages franchisees to market their restaurants through church groups. Howe Rice, a franchisee in Glen Allen, Va., hosts a Bible study group in one of his two Chick-fil-A restaurants every Tuesday. He offers a free breakfast to all who attend. “You don’t have to be a Christian to work at Chick-fil-A, but we ask you to base your business on biblical principles because they work,” says Cathy.

Chick-fil-A is run by Cathy and his sons Dan T., chief operating officer, and Donald (a.k.a. Bubba), a senior vice president. They screen prospective operators for their loyalty, wholesome values and willingness to buy into Chick-fil-A’s in-your-face Christian credo, espoused often by Cathy, an evangelical Southern Baptist who says “the Lord has never spoken to me, but I feel Chick-fil-A has been His gift.”

Fifty employees and one franchisee grew up in one of 13 Christian foster homes in the U.S. and Brazil run by a nonprofit organization Chick-fil-A funds, the WinShape Foundation. Sixteen others were in Sunday-school classes Cathy teaches at First Baptist Church in Jonesboro, Ga. Cathy likes to give a leg up to people who have ambition but little else: The company asks operators to pay just $5,000 as an initial franchise fee. KFC, for example, demands $25,000 and a net worth of $1 million.

Chick-fil-A pays for the land, the construction and the equipment. It then rents everything to the franchisee for 15% of the restaurant’s sales plus 50% of the pretax profit remaining. Operators, who are discouraged from running more than a few restaurants, take home $100,000 a year on average from a single outlet. A solo Bojangles’ franchisee can expect to earn $330,000 (Ebitda) on sales of $1.7 million.

Loyalty to the company isn’t the only thing that matters to Cathy, who wants married workers, believing they are more industrious and productive. One in three company operators have attended Christian-based relationship-building retreats through WinShape at Berry College in Mount Berry, Ga. The programs include classes on conflict resolution and communication. Family members of prospective operators–children, even–are frequently interviewed so Cathy and his family can learn more about job candidates and their relationships at home. “If a man can’t manage his own life, he can’t manage a business,” says Cathy, who says he would probably fire an employee or terminate an operator who “has been sinful or done something harmful to their family members.”

The parent company asks people who apply for an operator license to disclose marital status, number of dependents and involvement in “community, civic, social, church and/or professional organizations.”

But Danielle Alderson, 30, a Baltimore operator, says some fellow franchisees find that Chick-fil-A butts into its workers’ personal lives a bit much. She says she can’t hire a good manager who, say, moonlights at a strip club because it would irk the company. “We are watched very closely by Chick-fil-A,” she says. “It’s very weird.”

The article points out that federal law doesn’t prohibit employers from digging into your personal business or firing someone who has “been sinful or done something harmful to their family members.” (Hey Grover. How’s that “leave us alone coalition” working out?)

Counting on the end times

by David Atkins

Tom Friedman is actually coherent today for a change, and makes a good point:

I’ll make this quick. I have one question and one observation about Mitt Romney’s visit to Israel. The question is this: Since the whole trip was not about learning anything but about how to satisfy the political whims of the right-wing, super pro-Bibi Netanyahu, American Jewish casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, why didn’t they just do the whole thing in Las Vegas? I mean, it was all about money anyway — how much Romney would abase himself by saying whatever the Israeli right wanted to hear and how big a jackpot of donations Adelson would shower on the Romney campaign in return. Really, Vegas would have been so much more appropriate than Jerusalem. They could have constructed a plastic Wailing Wall and saved so much on gas.

The observation is this: Much of what is wrong with the U.S.-Israel relationship today can be found in that Romney trip. In recent years, the Republican Party has decided to make Israel a wedge issue. In order to garner more Jewish (and evangelical) votes and money, the G.O.P. decided to “out-pro-Israel” the Democrats by being even more unquestioning of Israel. This arms race has pulled the Democratic Party to the right on the Middle East and has basically forced the Obama team to shut down the peace process and drop any demands that Israel freeze settlements. This, in turn, has created a culture in Washington where State Department officials, not to mention politicians, are reluctant to even state publicly what is U.S. policy — that settlements are “an obstacle to peace” — for fear of being denounced as anti-Israel.

What Friedman only alludes to at a glance is the fact that while this pandering is partly to win over Jewish votes, it’s primarily designed to appeal to evangelicals who desperately want a one-state “solution” wherein the Temple is rebuilt in Jerusalem so that the final prophecies of the Book of Revelation can be fulfilled. These are the same people–and there are many of them in the United States–who don’t care a whit about climate change not because they believe it’s a hoax or isn’t man-made, but simply believe that the end of the world will come before it begins to matter.

These are the dangerous lunatics to which the Republican Party is pandering. People whose political philosophy is expressly designed to aid and abet their doomsday cult.

And yet rational people are supposed to come to some sort of centrist “compromise” with them.

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Li’l Luke is daddy’s boy

by digby

The “sage of Capitol Hill” is a little bit testy today:

I’m not sure that Li’l Luke has learned even one small thing beyond the crappy, braindead “analysis” he learned from his father’s stultifyingly shallow commentary: “working class whites (just like me!) don’t like liberals (excuse me “ultra-libs”) because liberals are all a bunch of girly-men.” And that explains all you need to know about American politics. (Now let’s all talk about sex!)

NBC wasn’t kind to this boy when they put him on TV without any seasoning. It’s possible that he would have turned out this way regardless, but once they made his wear his father’s mantle there was never any chance for him to be anything other than king of the Village dipshits. It’s kind of sad.

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Everybody’s all excited because Huckleberry Graham is being a grown-up:

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Tuesday urged Mitt Romney to embrace revenues as part of a plan to stave off the automatic spending cuts set to take effect next year.

“If he gave his blessing, it would be easier for Republicans,” Graham said of the presumptive GOP presidential nominee.

In a discussion with reporters, Graham said his Republican colleagues are torn over whether to agree to consider revenues – such as tax loopholes and fees for government services – as part of a deal to avert the spending cuts, called sequestration.

Let’s think about this. They (supposedly) need to find 1.2 trillion in cuts and revenue. And Huck is one of those angling to keep most of the defense cuts off the table. So, he’s out there lobbying his brethren to “close loopholes” and raise “fees” for government services instead. And what about the cuts? Well, it goes without saying that they are written in stone.

An American Elite In the 21st Century

By tristero

What’s your definition of an American elite? Well, how about:

Lawyer. Check
Princeton and Harvard-trained. Check
Former Washington official. Check
Former solicitor general of a large state. Check
Argued cases before the Supreme Court. Check

Yep, whatever else you might think of this guy, he’s unquestionably an elite, one of the most privileged individuals in the United States. He’s clearly well-connected and has personally wielded considerable power, far more than most of us ever will.

And so, of course, he’s the latest phony tea bagger to rise to national prominence by pretending to be an insurgent and a voice of change for the helpless, oppressed, powerless masses.

UPDATE: And now the Times is positioning him as the intellectual of the Tea Party. That’s like calling Dick Cheney the St. Francis of torturers.

RIP Gore Vidal

by digby

Now that was uncivil. In the very best way.

They don’t make lefties like him anymore and more’s the pity. He had none of that self-righteous priggishness that overtakes a certain kind of radical, and yet he was a fearless critic of the American system. But he always delivered the bad news with wit, style and an elegant coup de grâce, which is a real gift if you’re telling people things they don’t want to hear.

Pike goes quietly

by David Atkins

Remember this guy?

Well, this is long overdue:

The UC Davis police officer who pepper-sprayed students during a campus protest last fall no longer works for the university, the Sacramento Bee reported Tuesday.

The employment of Lt. John Pike, who was captured on cellphone video in the act of spraying peaceful demonstrators, “ended on July 31, 2012,” UC Davis spokesman Barry Shiller said.

Shiller would not comment on the circumstances of Pike’s departure, citing privacy restrictions governing the release of such information. Pike declined to comment to the newspaper, saying he wanted to consult an attorney before speaking. Pike had been on paid administrative leave.

Of course, it’s not just about this one man. As the events in Anaheim and elsewhere amply demonstrate, there is a serious problem with the culture of many local police departments all across the country, and it needs to be addressed head on.

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QOTD: don’t forget Poland edition

by digby

This infamous little dust up just cracks me up:

“Kiss my ass — this is a holy site for the Polish people. Show some respect.”

Because nothing says holy and respectful like yelling “kiss my ass.”

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