Monday, February 20, 2012

Shark! It's What's For Lunch!

Eco-savvy President Barack Obama signed a bill in January that protects sharks from being captured and sliced and diced for their fins. Then he headed for his favorite left coast city where he had lunch at the Great Eastern restaurant in San Francisco’s Chinatown. The President took time out from some major fundraising with the limousine liberals to have a bite. The highlight of the restaurant’s menu? Shark fin soup.

Now it all seems a little schizophrenic to me. Michelle Obama hectors us about “eating healthy” while preventing us (and particularly our kids) from eating anything she doesn’t approve of. Barack Obama, on the other hand, takes the family to restaurants which serve lunches that include forbidden products. Maybe Barack signed the bill accidentally, not realizing that shark fins are highly nutritious (are they?). Or maybe it’s just a matter of the rules not applying to the elite.

California banned the sale of shark fin products a year ago. It outraged the Chinese community in San Francisco who asked “what next—are you going to ban rhino horn?” The federal ban has only recently gone into effect. But there might be another reason he chose that restaurant. Where you or I might go to a lunch where they serve really big hamburgers that cost as much as $10, this particular restaurant serves a bowl of braised shark fin soup for $48. What a bargain!

Now the President claims he had no advance knowledge of the shark fin soup on the menu. But then his Attorney General also claims he never heard of Fast & Furious. Besides, he broke no laws. Both the California and federal laws make exceptions for shark fins already harvested, and they can be served in restaurants until July 1 of next year. I have to wonder if there will be a menu item at the Great Eastern called “really old, stale shark fin soup” by that time.

PETA found out about the impromptu lunch arrangements too late to gather their forces and throw blood on the President. But they did make a public statement: “All animals feel fear and pain, and what kind of justification can there be for the hideous cruelty involved in pulling sharks from the water, cutting off their fins, and then throwing them back into the sea to spin to the bottom while they slowly bleed to death?”

The federal Shark Conservation Act prohibits cutting off the fins of most shark species at sea. I guess some sharks just aren’t worth protecting from spinning to the bottom while they slowly bleed to death. Maybe they exempted the Great White, since the species is rather large and doesn’t take well to having its fin cut off. Sort of like, “if you think you can pull it off, go for it.” On the other hand, it may be protected because of its movie star status and ability to raise funds for Obama campaigns. Besides, who wants to watch Shark Week on Animal Planet if the sharks are all finless?

Well, the President didn’t have the shark fin soup anyway. He opted for shrimp dumplings, pork dumplings, steamed pork buns and stuffed mushrooms. I’m not sure where that meal fits on Michelle’s scale of healthy meals, but if it’s anything like I remember, it’s a cholesterol atom bomb. Even if he had ordered the shark fin soup, he wouldn’t have been breaking the law as it currently exists. But aren’t Democrats the ones who are always whining about following “the spirit of the law?”

28 comments:

tryanmax said...

Hypocrisy? From this president? Say what?

Unknown said...

tryanmax: But he didn't know, he didn't know! don't you believe the great Truth Teller?

Joel Farnham said...

LawHawk,

Pretty soon they are going to go after Tuna!

Unknown said...

Joel: No, they won't bother with tuna because they're manufactured in a can.

tryanmax said...

Sure seems to be a lot he doesn't know for such a qualified Commander in Chief. Isn't the perpetual beef against GOP candidates that they aren't experts in everything?

Unknown said...

tryanmax: Whenever he doesn't know something (which seems to be very often) his Greek chorus simply says "it's not something he needs to know." And you're right, only Republicans are required to know absolutely everything or be disqualified from public office. The MSM never asks Obama a "gotcha" question.

T-Rav said...

Uh, gross.

In all fairness, if cutting off the fins of sharks and then tossing them alive back into the ocean is in fact what they do to get the ingredient for this soup, then that does strike me as rather cruel. I don't know if that is what they do, though, or if it's just more PETA spin. In any case, if Obama loves the environment so much, I would expect him not to partake of this dish. If he were an honest man, that is.

Unknown said...

T-Rav: I don't know either, but it does sound pretty gruesome.

AndrewPrice said...

It's true, and that's one of the reasons this is actually a good law.... and why Obama is a hypocritical ass.... as usual.

Unknown said...

Andrew: How hypocritical he is is determined by the size of the donation from the owners of the restaurant. LOL

Barack Hussein Obama said...

I enjoyed my time at the restaurant, and my bowl of soup. What's more, the owners have agreed to a shakedown of $80,000 to my re-election campaign. Er, did I say shakedown? I meant donation! Yes, donation! That's it.

CrisD said...

This makes me think of Ox tail soup and pigs feet dishes--where the human uses every last part of the animal for eating--and if it were that would be totally legitimate. But it sounds like it's more like when the harvest the ivory tusks of elephants and just throw the rest away.
Still, as an all-american suburban kid, I love(d) me some thin sliced baloney!! Now there is some left-over junk that I can fill up on :)

Tehachapi Tom said...

Hawk
Hypocrisy is his middle name.
He did away with Christian prayer day to replace it with Islam prayer, then eats pork dumplings.
That is of course after attending a "Christian" church in Chicago for 20 years. As for using all of any food source isn't that being conservative?
It is interesting that a total ban of the shark fin soup is the way to conserve sharks. If the whole shark is ok to catch so that shark steaks can be served then what to do with the fins. Throw them back to sink slowly to the bottom of the ocean?
Pickled pigs feet could be in the next ban exercise. Just toss them back into the barn yard.

Unknown said...

BHO: All is forgiven.

Unknown said...

Cris: I had almost forgotten about oxtail soup. I haven't had it since I was a kid. My brother-in-law (extremely German) loved pickled pigs feet, but it was a little more than I could take. And it does sound both wasteful and cruel to kill an animal for one small part of its anatomy while throwing the rest away.

Unknown said...

Tehachapi Tom: It does all sound a bit crazed and inconsistent.

BevfromNYC said...

First - How could he NOT know or at the very least one of his handlers should have thought of checking. But then again, I don't think anyone actually reads the legislation he signs. They just say "no reason to read this, just sign it. It's about sharks or something."

It reminds me of a scene in "West Wing" where Charlie, knowing Bartlett's love for old maps gives him a antique pre-Israel map of Palestine for Christmas and, of course, he loves it and he wants to hang it in his office. Leo flips out and says you can't hang a map of the Middle East that does not have Israel on it. That may be misinterpreted as being anti-Israel. That's what these people are supposed to do. Make sure that the President isn't perceived as a hypocrite. Though with Obama, it is a Herculean feat...

I am more upset with these "spontaneous" restaurant appearances he insists on. He spends an awful lot of time going to get burgers for the staff or bringing back take-out. Don't we pay people to do this for him?

Unknown said...

Bev: I think that's a big part of his gaffes. He has never had decent protocol officers and handlers, and even I don't expect him to be able to handle all contingencies on his own. Without his TelePrompter, he's a blunderer, but he would make far fewer mistakes if he had the executive ability to hire a decent staff. And "can't I just eat my waffle?" is no substitute for statesmanship or being presidential. Still, with the complicity of the MSM, he seems to get through these boo-boos without any serious damage.

Tehachapi Tom said...

Hawk
In the search to describe the one a new word turned up.


New Word INEPTOCRACY


Could not find it in my old Webster's. Googled it and discovered it is a recently "coined" new word found on a T shirt on eBay.

I love this word and believe that it will become a recognized English word.
Finally, a word to describe our current political situation.

Ineptocracy (in-ep-toc'-ra-cy) - a system of government
where the least capable to lead are elected by the least
capable of producing; and, where the members of society
least likely to sustain themselves or succeed, are rewarded
with goods and services paid for by the confiscated wealth
of a diminishing number of producers.

Individualist said...

LAwhawk said:
"Joel: No, they won't bother with tuna because they're manufactured in a can."

So Lawhawk are yoiu then suggesting that they can go after Shark Fins because it is an unCANny meal.

Unknown said...

Tehachapi Tom: I like it. I'll add it to my vocabulary list.

Koshcat said...

I have had shark fin soup and I have to say it was OK. Needed salt and several other herbs and spices. I don't think it did much for my wang either.

A gaffe like this though should at minimum get someone fired. Perception is important as it shows you at least listen to the crap coming out of your own mouth. He is the worst executive imaginable and the complicity of the MSM to not call him on any of it will be their downfall. At least PETA said something, although it was a little soft for them.

Unknown said...

Indi: What a great idea for an ad. "Shark fin soup--it's unCANny." But then we'll have to get them to lift the bans.

Unknown said...

Koshcat: I had it many years ago and it didn't leave any lingering good memories. I'd rather have turtle soup, but I think it's out too.

I think what worries me is that his staff is so completely unable to handle these minor things that I have no expectation that they're ready for anything truly important. With the broiler turned on high in the Middle East, that scares the hell out of me.

BevfromNYC said...

I pray every day that someone in Obama's administration will get a political clue. If they can just NOT say or do stuff, I would feel safer. Silence is golden or even platinum or better yet, a full tank of gas!

Unknown said...

Bev: Perception is as important as reality. The MSM covers up for Obama and his gang that can't shoot straight, but others are watching. As volatile as the situation is between Israel and Iran right now, I worry about one of those fools saying exactly the wrong thing and setting off a chain of events that the MSM can't hide.

Tennessee Jed said...

I would have a hard time believing anything the president does or says is not carefully planned in advance. I did have a $25 "kobe" beef cheeseburger on Maui a couple years back. Talk about "dissin'" the cow.

Unknown said...

Tennessee: Nothing's cheap on the Islands. But now I suddenly have a taste for a big, juicy burger. So much of what Obama does is scripted, but he still manages to pull this kind of thing off with some regularity.

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