DUCKS, Foodies Beware

Animal rights activists are moving to ban foi gras from New York City. This week, the Humane Society and other groups asked the state's Department of Agriculture and Markets to label foi gras an "adulterated" food, meaning "diseased, contaminated, filthy, putrid or decomposed." Are they just making this stuff up? We're not talking about Mad Cow Disease or the Bird Flu here. Foi gras poses no threat to those who consume it, just to the ducks and geese who supply it. In fact, humans might suffer more in the absence of this delicacy. Considering New York is the largest foi gras producer in North America, it is unclear how prohibiting the stuff would effect the state's economy. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger banned fois gras from California, beginning in 2012. Apparently, he's thinking that 6 more years is all it will take for Californians to stop tanning long enough to empathize with our feathered friends. Really it boils down to one question (no pun here, foi gras isn't boiled): Do animals have rights? And before you answer that, ask yourself if those rights include a cushy life before being slaughtered, fried, and smothered in raspberry coulis for some shiny shoed guy who wants to pay $15 or more for a piece of liver.