Food for Thought

I won't get super political on this (if I can help it.) But I think something that we all regardless of beliefs need to consider when supporting chains is that when we give money to them they give money to causes that one may not support.

This is why I've made some minor changes in where I chose to shop.

I won't shop at wal-mart because 1. the people scare me and 2. the companies CEOs are ridiculously rich, like swim in money rich and refuse to pay a living wage or provide decent healthcare to employees. Fuck you wal-mart.
I won't go to Seaworld because I think they are evil and if I gave them money that money will be used to capture baby animals. I went when I was 19 and fed dolphins. I feel guilty for that.
 I don't eat KFC and haven't for years because they are notoriously cruel to chickens. I know you're going to kill it and eating it arguably makes you a hypocrite but KFC has brought about unnecessary cruelty to slaughter. Boiling it alive, beating the animal to death or stomping it to death come on, meat eater or plant eater we can agree that this is unacceptable cruelty.

There are other companies I raise an eye at that I try to avoid. But in the midst of a craving for a frosty from Wendys I came across this article. My mouth says yes to the chocolate frothy deliciousness but my expanding waistline, empty womb and intolerant gut says, "YOU'RE TRYING TO KILL ME!"

Anyway I found out the company funds anti choice and anti LGBT companies. I am not about that. I have been a defender of womens rights since I got my first period and have been a defender of the LGBT community for even longer. As a child I didn't give a damn about two men or two women kissing. And I still don't because its none of my business. If it makes you happy who am I to judge? I'm more likely to roll my eyes at a silly teen mom with a stupid boyfriend or a loveless hetero marriage that refuses to divorce.

Here is a link for information about Wendys. If you just can't resist their crispy nuggets or frosty (mmm yes Frosty... I Will Remember you by Sarah McLaughlin is playing in my head) use cash. At least with cash the shame wont show on your bank statement and the company wont have your mailing info.

Bottom line though is, when supporting big chains be sure you support the causes they fund. This sucks for me as I do like to buy from Target but I try not to over spend there or I look into other options for specific items. It is also sad that these companies support destroying the lives of same sex partners by deeming them unequal or telling a scared raped teen to be forced to carry a child to term, rather than using their power for good and electing to donate to red cross, disaster reliefs, homeless shelters, refugees, the environment or preservation of endangered species. If I was a big corp. my money would go to animals and the world. I'd donate to those in need and those organizations that do little to help anyone...can suck it.

Some words from the article that made my head spin

"Wendy’s supports every single supporter of the U.S. Senate’s current attack on marriage equality. The deceitfully-named Marriage Protection Amendment, Senate Joint Resolution 1, has 30 sponsors currently. Every one of them is a Republican and every one of them has received money from Wendy’s directly (through Wendy’s PAC) or indirectly (from other political action committees that got money from Wendy’s)."

 "The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, the historic organization founded in 1950 that lobbied for and won the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Fair Housing Act of 1968, found Wendy’s candidates voted for civil rights, on average, only 17.4 percent of the time"

 The National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL) found Wendy’s candidates voted for women’s right to choose reproductive freedom, on average, only 10.3 percent of the time and most (45 out of 56 evaluated by NARAL) voted anti-choice every single time.

Here is some teeny tiny bit of good for Mcdonalds. But Mcdonalds is under fire for not providing a living wage for its employees. And encouraging employees to sell of personal items to make more money and giving instructions on how to apply for food stamps. I do NOT believe that fast food employees should be paid 15 dollars an hour but I do believe they should be paid a fair livable wage, they should get sick/vacation time (EVERYONE NEEDS THIS) and they should be provided with health insurance. 

McDonald’s and Yum! — the parent company of KFC, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, Long John Silver’s and A&W — however, treat LGBT people much better than Wendy’s does. McDonald’s and Yum! have had non-discrimination policies protecting LGBT people for years. McDonald’s policy has been in place since 1999 and Yum! instituted their policy in 2004. 

Yum! offers health and medical benefits to same-sex partners and spouses of employees. McDonald’s also offers those benefits, along with dental, vision, adoption assistance and other benefits.




http://goqnotes.com/oped/oped_061706b.html