All those good Brown County Republicans whose misinformed Islamophobia Jason Ravnsborg stoked last July should be going ape over the latest news about New Angus’s business plan for the benighted Northern Beef Packers slaughterhouse. Evidently the DEM in their new DemKota brand stands for “Don’t Eat (infidel) Meat!”
“We need to add value to separate ourselves from the big guys,” R. Doug Cooper, CEO of New Angus Beef, said. “We plan to do the religious harvest simultaneously, with USDA and rabbinical inspectors overseeing the process.”
“This plant has made an investment to do religious harvest,” Cooper said. “We plan to do that in a world-class environment with concern for animal welfare. We have experience with similar customers. We believe it is very complimentary to what we are doing. We have invested the capital and tools to do it right.”
Cooper cited a global and international demand for this growing market.
The terms kosher and halal refer to the Jewish and Muslim faiths, which have specific rituals that need to befollowed when animals are slaughtered and processed. These rules are prescribed by the dietary laws of their religion [Connie Sieh Groop, “New Angus Beef Plant to Tap Kosher, Halal Beef Markets,” Aberdeen American News, 2015.10.23].
Having listened closely to Mr. Ravnsborg’s presentation in ISIS and Islam, I naturally compose the following syllogism:
- New Angus will produce halal meat.
- Halal meat feeds radical Islamists.
- Radical Islamists pose the biggest threat to America’s security, and we must destroy this evil.
- Therefore, New Angus is literally feeding evil and increasing the threat to America’s security.
Thinking like a Ravnsborg-roused rabble hurts, but once one starts, it’s hard to stop:
Don’t forget that New Angus wouldn’t have this barely used slaughterhouse if Mike Rounds hadn’t implemented the EB-5 visa investment program in South Dakota, made Northern Beef Packers a centerpiece of his economic development legacy, and poured millions of state dollars into NBP to keep it afloat. So bracket the syllogism further: Mike Rounds sends sandwiches to ISIS!
But Northern Beef Packers will probably have to shut down again before shipping much meat to the caliphate. Halal food preparation must follow sharia law. The rules include having a pious Muslim kill the cow with a knife. Halal also requires the knife-wielder to pray to Allah before killing the beast. New Angus must thus engage in religious discrimination in hiring its slaughter personnel. All it takes is one healthy infidel like me to apply for a job, not get hired or not pray before doing the job (and I’ll be darned if any employer requires me to say a prayer to any god), and sue for religious discrimination. And since the Legislature passed a law in 2012 banning the legal enforcement of any religious code (thank you, sponsor Roger Hunt and Governor Dennis Daugaard), South Dakota’s Third Judicial Circuit will be required to axe New Angus’s discriminatory hiring practices, and Aberdeen is back to a shuttered beef plant.
I’ll be curious to see how eagerly my Aberdeen neighbors embrace a restarted beef plant banking on strict Islamic customers. And if anyone gets prickly about the implementation of Islamic law on the kill floor, I’ll be curious to see if they offer equal prickles over the implementation of Jewish law on the kosher side of the building.
So. It’s Friday afternoon. I’m having a nice cold ‘dad pop’ to celebrate the end of the work week and to relax a bit before the maelstrom of Hobo Day twirls me all over Brookings tomorrow. I then stumble over the following:
“Mike Rounds sends sandwiches to ISIS!”
Dammit! Beer spewed all over my phone. Thanks, Cory.
Maybe they can set aside one day a week when wingnuts aren’t minding everyone else’s business to produce religious round steaks. I’m guessing it would have to be Sunatfrithurtuewedmon day.
We are gonna need a taller Minaret for the call to prayer.
Since the ’70s Aberdeen has been known as the “Chosen City”. It’s time has come. I can see thousands of fine, upstanding workers of the Muslim faith turning it into the “Shining City On The Hill” that Aberdeen has long been destined to be. “شكرا لكم على الترحيب أفكار جديدة في مجتمعك.”
Sorry about that beer, Crossgrain. Enjoy the parade… and help out the petition circulators who will be working the route this morning! Independent redistricting commission, real 36% rate cap—they’ll be there!
Jerry, I wouldn’t mind a minaret to add to the skyline.
Porter, what’s that text?
Cory,
https://www.google.com/search?q=translate&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8
I wonder what the Muslims think of having their cattle slaughtered in the same plant where their arch enemies the Jews also have their cattle slaughtered.
@Scott … That statement of your’s, sir is what’s known as a “micro-aggression”. I’ll let you do the research if you care to understand why it’s in poor taste and offensive to most of the world.
Porter a number of comments on this thread including yours were made in poor taste. It’s not that big of a deal since the requirements between Kosher and Halal are not that different. Here are the meat requirements. http://meat.tamu.edu/ansc-307-honors/kosher-halal/
Many markets and cafes market to both and have it in their advertising. Some of those businesses are owned by Jews, Muslims and Christians and are cross shopped by all. Holyland is a prime example in the Twin Cities http://holylandbrand.com/history/ and http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g43323-d828111-Reviews-Holy_Land_Bakery_Grocery_and_Deli-Minneapolis_Minnesota.html
Holyland’s hummus, taboulleh and other items are huge sellers in the metro area sold in many Natural Foods Co-ops and they operate a café on Central Ave north of downtown Minneapolis and grocery market/deli at the Global Market Exchange on East Lake St.
Arch enemies? That is pretty small and isolated in the big picture since many co-exist peacefully.
I have my doubts if the old NBP can make this a go with such a specialized market that is already probably saturated but if they can than Aberdeen and the region could sure use it with all the economic hits they have taken up there.
Aberdeen does have a Synagogue and the city is becoming more diverse.
@Lynn … Why are you jumping on me? I’m saying the same thing as you. Have some tolerance SoDak. (PS … I have a career behind me in International cuisine but thanks for caring enough to educate me. Everyone, make note of Lynn’s post on Middle East food. She’s totally accurate.) My point goes to conservative intolerance. Here’s a primer.
http://www.rawstory.com/2015/10/negativity-anxiety-and-resistance-to-change-a-neuroscientist-explains-conservatives-fear-driven-political-attitudes/
Lynn, the market for halal products is significant and growing, and as you allude to, not just because of Muslims. Proponents of organic food are an unexpected market for halal food
“Halal doctrine emphasizes quality of life for animals, even those bred for the table, and merciful killing. Battery farms, growth hormones and feed made from processed animal byproducts are certainly not halal. It’s no wonder then that a new generation of diners is seeking out halal foods, even though they’re not Muslim.”
http://researchindustryvoices.com/2015/03/17/halal-food-3-insights-for-breaking-into-a-1-trillion-food-industry/#sthash.KHJSCNVD.dpuf
Exactly Barbara. You know the best hotdogs are Kosher ones, they beat the others without much competition. Having organic meat and especially grass fed beef are my favorites. Of course, you will not see pork consumed by either the Muslims or Jews. For them, it is beef that is for dinner, but only if taken correctly and with prayer. Huron had a kosher kill plant and so did Rapid City at one time, to have a Muslim kill would not be a stretch for South Dakota and if it brings a job to this place, it would be about 1499 workers less than Rounds and Daugaard predicted. Maybe we need to bring back the Korean workers and then turn the plant into a kimchi grow to go along with We Grow. Organic and good for ya.
If I know where and how the meat is processed, I will do that. Regarding the Minaret, they are beautiful along with Islamic designs in architecture. To really see some of this incredible beauty, look at pictures from the Alhambra in Granada, Spain, which was the last redoubt of the Moors when they ruled Spain until being driven out in 1492.
Of course in 1492, they also expelled the Jews.
Whatever happened to meat and potatoes for dinner. I prefer both raised by me,but I can’t raise cattle any more. I do grow quite a few spuds and give lots away to neighbors who don’t have the time or knack for gardening. I don’t need food prepared to anyone else’s standards or religion and will not knowingly imbibe.