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CBS: Cali Gay Marriage As 'Huge Victory for Equal Rights’

By NB Staff | May 10, 2008 - 10:48 ET

For general discussion and debate. Possible talking point: airline stops serving beef to placate Hindus (paragraph breaks removed):

British Airways has taken beef off the menu for economy passengers amid concerns about its "religious restrictions". The airline has instead switched to a fish pie or chicken dish option for the so-called "cattle class" passengers. BA's second-biggest long-haul market is to India, where the majority Hindu population do not eat beef because of their beliefs.

What do you think about this kind of "religious correctness"?

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I'm sure beef prices

May 10, 2008 - 10:51 ET by sarcasmo

Had nothing at all to do with this decision. Chicken & fish could not possibly be cheaper choices! It's all about religion, all right... ;)
JMR

The tax & spend drug war looks racist in the real world.

that is exactly what I

May 10, 2008 - 11:01 ET by kaekae

that is exactly what I thought. They just dressed it up so people couldn't complain without looking like bigots.

Because they could have just made it an option - like vegetarian, diabetic or kosher.

Also, this way is much simpler - fish (depends on the type) and chicken are usually considered kosher, fish is eaten by some vegetarians, and I think Muslims eat fish/chicken as well.

Money - not respect for religious beliefs was the reason for this change.

Or, they could have had

May 10, 2008 - 12:16 ET by motherbelt

Or, they could have had beef, plus a second option. Don't they usually have a choice of two?

You honestly believe BA

May 10, 2008 - 11:13 ET by Noel Sheppard

You honestly believe BA would take the British national meal off its menu for price reasons and risk a religious and cultural backlash by using Hinduism a its excuse? I'm a pretty cynical person, but that seems like very risky business. :-) ns

What are Hindus gonna do?

May 10, 2008 - 13:03 ET by sarcasmo

Blow up airplanes, or deliberately crash them? Hmmm... :^\ Anyway, if I'd been them, I'd have kept beef as an option, but a more expensive option.
JMR

The tax & spend drug war looks racist in the real world.

What are Hindus gonna

May 10, 2008 - 13:16 ET by Jack Bauer

What are Hindus gonna do?

Send around the Hare Krishnas to take care of business!

Vote 4 change. Vote 4 anything. See Jack & Mr Shy's first campaign ad for the ONLY viable 3rd party candidate.

I say

May 10, 2008 - 11:16 ET by Uphill

Greasy pork sandwiches on every flight coming to the U.S. and only greasy pork sandwiches.

uphill

May 10, 2008 - 11:59 ET by botg

well can't we have BLTs for the health conscious?

“i am the quixotic botg and i approved this message”

Of course.

May 10, 2008 - 13:08 ET by Uphill

Of course.

That's a great idea! We

May 10, 2008 - 12:32 ET by Clear thinker

That's a great idea!

We could then call them the "Bin Laden Club" sandwich. This would be a sure fire way to piss him off.

"Abstain from McCain"

Meals in the Air?

May 10, 2008 - 11:02 ET by WesternGuy

They actually serve meals on this airline? How odd.

Next thing you know, the

May 10, 2008 - 11:05 ET by R D Helm

Next thing you know, the fern-fondling vegetable-rights crowd will be complaining about how cruel it is that vegetables are being harvested and consumed by humans.

Bet British Airways will be the first to stop serving them, too.

It is getting just that ridiculous.

What the American people are looking for is somebody who can solve their problems. - Barack Obama, April 27, 2008

RD

May 10, 2008 - 11:41 ET by ricklail

You mentioned ferns. Have you ever eaten any fiddle head ferns? They go good with a little smoked sausage.

Good morning.

May 10, 2008 - 11:12 ET by Uphill

What time do moonbats get up to protest?

Any wedding crashers heading to Crawford?

Placating Cow Worshippers

May 10, 2008 - 11:20 ET by viluzion

What could be more absurd than bowing down to a bunch of cow worshippers? Leave it to the British to answer that question and I'm sure they'll come up with something soon. I, for one, have no intention of ever removing either cows or pigs from my diet. If God hadn't intended for us to eat them, He wouldn't have made them out of meat.

Viluzion

May 10, 2008 - 11:34 ET by ricklail

You pegged it. I have no tolerance for Hinduism. The people go hungry while the cattle and the rats eat their grain.

We once had a Hindu engineer working with us. The guys in the crew would always comment that maybe we were eating his uncle when we would eat a hamburger

"A pharisee is hard on others and easy on himself, but a spiritual man is easy on others and hard on himself." A.W. Tozer (Pharisee=modern day liberal)

Ted HIC Kennedy

May 10, 2008 - 11:48 ET by ricklail

I saw the old sot on TV last night. He was ask if Obama should pick the Hilldabeast for VP. His answer made absolutely no since. He must had a drink. He said "He should pick someone that shared his more noble aspirations for the American people." Call me an old country redneck but I have no clue what that means. It ranks right up there with no controlling legal authority or trail rated on a Jeep.

"A pharisee is hard on others and easy on himself, but a spiritual man is easy on others and hard on himself." A.W. Tozer (Pharisee=modern day liberal)

I saw that story on

May 10, 2008 - 12:36 ET by motherbelt

I saw that story on Politico.com yesterday.

If you look today, you'll see an update: Teddy has recanted.

A newly released statement says:

Senator Kennedy thinks Senator Clinton is more than qualified to be
Vice President, but doesn't think it's likely given the tenor of the
campaign in recent weeks.

If their "second-biggest

May 10, 2008 - 12:17 ET by zhombre

If their "second-biggest long-haul market is to India" and many of the paying passengers are Hindus who do not eat beef, why should the airline not take it off the menu? This is catering to your customers. That's called marketing. If they removed beef from the menu on flights to North America because one or two Hindus might be offended (or substitute pork and Muslims) I might have a different take on it.

The article says BA has

May 10, 2008 - 12:24 ET by motherbelt

The article says BA has stopped serving beef and mentions the decision to scrap the nation's favourite fare (in economy class); it doesn't say just on the flights to India.

What do you think about this kind of "religious correctness"?

May 10, 2008 - 12:27 ET by Army Brat

Wrong, wrong, wrong.

Happy Trails...

I agree, AB...if they did

May 10, 2008 - 12:32 ET by motherbelt

I agree, AB...if they did it just on their flights to India, that would be one thing. Even at that, they could provide 75% non-beef meals and 25% beef to allow for most choosing the non-beef on those India flights. But to take it off the menu altogether is excessive.

Fish pie? EEEWWW!

And yet amazingly, I can go

May 10, 2008 - 12:58 ET by Jack Bauer

And yet amazingly, I can go in a non-vegetarian Indian restaurant in Britain and order BEEF.

British Airways is a British airline which doesn't think the cow is sacred. El Al is an Israeli airline which flies non-Jews as well.

However it doesn't serve non-kosher meals, and I think it would be unreasonable to expect them to change this to accommodate other passengers, even if this were a majority who were not Jewish.

Therefore it is unreasonable for the British airline to change its cuisine.

What next? NO PORK in case that offends those who would not order it anyway.

By the way, it was BA who FIRED an employee for wearing a cross at work in Heathrow airport. And WAS forced by a public outcry to backtrack.

Nadia Eweida, 56, became embroiled in a highly public row with BA in 2006 after the airline asked that she tuck her cross necklace behind her scarf so that it would not show.

Eweida took BA to an employment tribunal, claiming the airline had discriminated against Christians by not allowing them to openly wear symbols of their faith while Muslim and Hindu employees were permitted to wear headscarves and turbans.

After a public backlash and widespread criticism from politicians and church leaders, including the rchbishop of Canterbury, BA changed its uniform policy to allow crosses on chains to be worn openly."

Vote 4 change. Vote 4 anything. See Jack & Mr Shy's first campaign ad for the ONLY viable 3rd party candidate.

Agreed, Jack. I think it's

May 10, 2008 - 17:10 ET by motherbelt

Agreed, Jack. I think it's fine for them to provide an alternative to beef, but to not serve beef at all, to anyone, is ridiculous.

What ever happened to the

May 10, 2008 - 13:03 ET by Humblepie

What ever happened to the days when you purchased a ticket and was asked your preference for a meal. I can see the rational for flights to certain countries that service a different religious culture, ie. India, Israel, most middle eastern countries. After all, airlines are in it to make money. But, although I love to fish, don't eat it and most chicken served by airlines can be used for hockey pucks. Give me a choice before departing. Also, I do believe that if you have religious restrictions, airlines will prepare and set aside these meals. So it begs to ask, why would they do this now?

During this time with political correctness at its zenith, I reserve the right to let you know you're an idiot.

Been there, did that

May 10, 2008 - 15:04 ET by CobraMan

I once worked as a dispatcher for Sky Chiefs, which provides the catering for most of the airlines at Minneapolis/ St. Paul International Airport. I was the one that received all the orders for that day and I created the menu list for each flight. I saw quite a few requests for religious specific dishes. They always had alternative menus and dishes available for this purpose.

Also if anyone on the flight had a peanut allergy, all peanut products were removed from that flight, including any equipment that may have come in contact with peanuts (a peanut allergy can be deadly even a small exposure to peanut protein can kill someone) and other products were offered instead.

As far as removing ALL beef products from a flight, that's probably more of a cost issue (no separate menus and dishes, reduced cost) than excessive pandering to religious food requirements.