http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/living/columnists/dave_barry/15943300.htm
Posted on Sun, Nov. 19, 2006
Quibbles with The Gobbler
BY DAVE BARRY
(This classic Dave Barry column was originally published Nov. 5, 1995.)
We are approaching the Thanksgiving holiday, when we pause to reflect on our blessings by eating pretty much nonstop for an entire
day, then staggering off to bed, still chewing, with wads of stuffing clinging to our hair.
It's a spiritual time, yes, but it can also be a tragic time if an inadequately cooked turkey gives us salmonella poisoning, which
occurs when tiny turkey-dwelling salmon get into our blood, swim upstream and spawn in our brains (this is probably what happened to
Ross Perot). That's why the American Turkey and Giblet Council recommends that, to insure proper preparation, you cook your turkey
in a heated oven for at least two full quarters of the Vikings-Lions game, then give a piece to your dog and observe it closely for
symptoms such as vomiting, running for president, etc.
Some day, perhaps, we won't have to take these precautions, not if the U.S. government approves a radical new concept in poultry
safety being proposed by a company in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. I am not making up Rancho Cucamonga: It's a real place whose
odd-sounding name, if you look it up in your Spanish-English dictionary, turns out to mean ''Cucamonga Ranch.'' I am also not making
up the poultry-safety advance, which was discussed in a lengthy news story by Randyl Drummer in a recent issue of the Inland Valley
Daily Bulletin, sent in by many alert readers. Before I quote from this story, I need to issue a:
Warning to tasteful readers
You should not -- I repeat, not -- read the rest of this column if you are likely to be in any way offended by the term ``turkey
rectums.''
The story appears on The Daily Bulletin's business page, under the headline, Pacer Backing New Use for Glue. It begins, I swear, as
follows:
``RANCHO CUCAMONGA -- Jim Munn hopes that the government and the poultry industry will get behind his process for gluing chicken and
turkey rectums.''
Jim Munn, the story explains, is the president of a company called Pacer Technology, which makes Super Glue. Munn, the story states,
believes that meat contamination can be reduced by ''gluing shut the rectal cavities of turkeys and chicken broilers.'' (Needless to
say, this would be done after the chickens and turkeys have gone to that Big Barnyard in The Sky; otherwise everybody involved would
have to be paid a ridiculous amount of money.)
The story states that ``Munn became intrigued by a poultry rectal glue product after a federal inspector contacted him and said he
had used Super Glue on a turkey.''
I frankly find it hard to believe that a federal employee would admit such a thing, after what happened to Bob Packwood, but Jim
Munn thought it was a terrific concept. He plans to market the product under the name -- get ready -- ``Rectite.''
''Poultry officials applaud the idea,'' states the story.
I do, too. I am all for gluing turkeys shut; in fact, I think they should be glued shut permanently, because, as a consumer, I do
not wish to come into contact with those gross organs, necks, glands, etc. that come packed inside them. There are few scarier
experiences in life than having to put your unarmed hand inside the cold, clammy recesses of a darkened turkey and pull those things
out, never knowing when one of them will suddenly come to life like the creature in the movie ''Alien,'' leap off your kitchen
counter and skitter around snacking on household residents.
So I urge you to telephone your congressperson immediately and state your position on this issue clearly and forcefully, as follows:
''I favor gluing turkey rectums!'' And while you have your congressperson on the line, you might want to point out that The Walt
Disney Co. is secretly using cartoon movies to promote sex. Yes. I have here a document from an organization called the American
Life League, entitled ''Official Statement on Disney's Perverted Animation.'' The document states that Disney has been putting smut
into its cartoon movies, and cites the following examples, which I am still not making up:
--In ''Aladdin,'' 'when Prince Ababwa calls on Princess Jasmine on her balcony, a voice whispers, `Good teenagers, take off your
clothes.' '' The document further asserts that in the same movie, Abu the monkey says a bad word.
--In ''The Little Mermaid,'' the officiator in the wedding scene ''is obviously sexually aroused.'' Not only that, but 'the box
cover of `The Little Mermaid' contains a phallic symbol in the center of the royal castle.''
--In ''The Lion King,'' when Simba plops down, ''The cloud of dust that he stirs up, to the upper left of his head, forms the
letters S-E-X'' (which, if you remove the hyphens, spells ``sex'').
None of this surprises me. I have been suspicious of the Disney people ever since it was first pointed out to me, years ago, that
Donald Duck does not wear pants. There is way more of this perversion going on than we are aware of, and it is not limited to
Disney. Look at the shape of the Life Savers package! Are we supposed to believe that's coincidence?
No, this kind of thing is everywhere, and today I am calling on you readers, as concerned individuals with a lot of spare time, to
look for instances of hidden perversion in commercial products, then report them to me. Working together, we will get to the bottom
of this. And then we will glue it shut.
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