61 responses so far ↓

• #1   Jitty

  Ah, Michigan. Represent!

  Nov 13, 2012 at 3:15 pm   rating: 90  
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  • #1.1   Omnivore

    No kidding, Jitty.
    I bet the notewriter is a staunch Romney and Kid Rock fan. ‘Merica. :/

    Nov 13, 2012 at 10:34 pm   rating: 90  
     
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• #2   shwo!

  Someone seems to have crossed the line from lactose intolerant to just plain old intolerant.

  Nov 13, 2012 at 3:29 pm   rating: 90  
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  • #2.1   TRT

    The substitute milk of human kindness.

    Nov 14, 2012 at 3:46 am   rating: 90  
     
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• #3   mintjulep

  The sour grapes note is pretty bad, but calling it vitriol, and this guy a self-righteous idiot? Bad losers and bad winners.

  Besides, the boy scouts have their own self-righteous (homophobic) details to deal with. I’d choose another medium of donation, myself (sans jerky note), but that’s just me…

  Nov 13, 2012 at 5:03 pm   rating: 90  
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  • #3.1   Poltergeist

    Admittedly, you can’t really fault them for holding a food drive, but I agree that I would personally choose another charity. Intolerance and confidential files of child abuse cover-ups = I can do more to teach my son on how to be a good person in one day than you could in a lifetime, and he won’t have to wear a stupid looking uniform while he does it.

    Nov 14, 2012 at 1:21 am   rating: 90  
     
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• #4   juju_skittles

  I love the obscure stuff that comes out of the pantry for food drives. Guess they were out of large tins of creamed corn…

  Nov 13, 2012 at 5:16 pm   rating: 90  
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  • #4.1   Weeona

    I always intentionally donate non-dairy milk. Lots of POC are lactose intolerant, many folks are dairy allergic, some fellow vegans need to use food kitchens, etc. It always seemed like a very inclusive thing to donate – give the folks who either cannot or chose not to drink dairy a good source of calcium and D.

    Also, Almond Breeze is fucking delicious. Haters to the left.

    Nov 13, 2012 at 7:28 pm   rating: 90  
     

  • #4.2   Lil'

    So very true. I’m about to donate the can of Margaret Holmes Hoppin’ John my husband brought home a few months ago. I have no idea why canned hoppin’ john was even on his radar.

    Nov 13, 2012 at 7:39 pm   rating: 90  
     

  • #4.3   RedDelicious

    Beggars can’t and really shouldn’t be choosers. If you’re in such a bad way that you have to use a food pantry or donated food, you need to reevaluate your priorities. Staying vegan is the least of your problems at that point. Feeding yourself and staying alive? That’s your priority. If I gave food to someone out of a generous spirit, and they turned it down because it wasn’t vegan, then I no longer feel the need to help them.

    Nov 13, 2012 at 8:22 pm   rating: 90  
     

  • #4.4   betty lou

    What the FUCK is hoppin john?????

    Nov 13, 2012 at 8:58 pm   rating: 90  
     

  • #4.5   Scarab

    http://www.margaretholmes.com/products/details/hoppin-john/

    Nov 13, 2012 at 9:14 pm   rating: 90  
     

  • #4.6   deprogrammed

    Hoppin’ John: rice, black-eyed peas, with various spices. Great served with cornbread/honey butter.

    I cannot fathom a canned version, though.

    Nov 13, 2012 at 10:24 pm   rating: 90  
     

  • #4.7   Djagir

    I confess, I am quite worried about the “brine that has been in the McCall family for a century.” Canned or not, that doesn’t seem very fresh.

    Nov 14, 2012 at 1:41 am   rating: 90  
     

  • #4.8   kermit

    Just because beggars can’t be choosers doesn’t necessarily mean that you should be donating stuff you wouldn’t gladly eat yourself. I used to volunteer at a homeless place and it used to annoy the daylights out of me when we had to throw out stuff that people donated knowing full well that it was garbage (gunky hair spray way past its expiration date, stale lettuce, etc). No wonder shelters prefer that people donate money instead.

    Nov 14, 2012 at 6:57 am   rating: 90  
     

  • #4.9   The Elf

    While I agree that you shouldn’t donate garbage, neither creamed corn, canned hoppin’ john, or almond milk is necessarily garbage. As long as it is before the expiration date, it’s a food like any other.

    I like creamed corn as a snack or side dish, and until I discovered an allergy I regularly bought almond milk. (I wouldn’t drink it straight like milk, but it’s an excellent low-calorie sustitute for milk or creamer in coffee). I think canned hoppin’ john would be edible in much the same way that Chef Boyardee Beefaroni is edible. It’ll getcha through the day but not something I would buy for myself.

    That’s where the “beggars can’t be choosers” thing comes into play. I don’t expect “beggars” to rejoice in slimy lettuce, but I would expect them not to reject any of the above items just because they weren’t exactly what they wanted.

    Nov 14, 2012 at 7:46 am   rating: 90  
     

  • #4.10   Kirsty

    It depends. If you’re vegan because you’re genuinely convinced it’s immoral to eat animal products, that absolutely would take priority.

    In the same way that, even if I were starving, I would not resort to cannibalism.
    (I personally don’t believe eating animal products or meat is wrong, but some do. For them it’s a similar issue)

    Nov 14, 2012 at 10:34 am   rating: 90  
     

  • #4.11   Rattus

    I’m not sure about that. While under ordinary circumstances, no matter how regular-type of hungry I was, I would not eat my neighbour. However, if my neighbour and I were trapped at the bottom of a mine, day…let’s say five, no hope of rescue in sight, I would be on that neighbour’s thigh like a tiger on a villager.

    Nov 14, 2012 at 11:14 am   rating: 90  
     

  • #4.12   The Elf

    But is your neighbor organic, free range, and GMO free?

    Nov 14, 2012 at 12:51 pm   rating: 90  
     

  • #4.13   Rattus

    The one neighbour family is, yes. Plus they’re quite lean.

    Nov 14, 2012 at 1:12 pm   rating: 90  
     

  • #4.14   BuckyTooth

    Thanks for the tip, Weeona. I drink Almond Breeze, but never thought of donating it to a food bank. It’s a great idea and I can get it in bulk at Costco.

    As for the note-writer… Go to a state that is going to secede from the Union so you can be with like-minded individuals who are so bitter they think donating food to the poor is no longer necessary because of who the majority of this country’s voters elected as their President.

    I mean, I disliked Bush, but never THAT much. Get over it, people.

    Nov 14, 2012 at 3:43 pm   rating: 90  
     

  • #4.15   Vulpis

    @RedDelicious While I’m at least partly on the vegan/vegetarian thing (if you didn’t spend the extra for supposedly ‘vegan’ stuff, maybe you wouldn’t be in the hole so badly now?), but on the other hand, those with Lactose Intolerance–or for that matter, food-based allergies, do kinda need to be ‘choosers’ to a degree. I mean, which is worse–starving to death, or ending up doubled over in agony as your stomach tries to burn a hole in itself, puking your guts out, and *then* starving to death?

    Nov 14, 2012 at 4:17 pm   rating: 90  
     

  • #4.16   The Elf

    A medical problem (allergy, celiac disease, whatever) would be an exception to the beggars can’t be choosers rule, but only as far as that particular problem goes.

    Nov 15, 2012 at 7:21 am   rating: 90  
     

  • #4.17   Dr.Chalkwitheringlicktacklefeff

    Actually, beggars CAN be choosers; they just have bear the consequences of their choices, that’s all. They can choose not to eat what people have donated and accept hunger and possibly starvation as part of said consequences. Or they can choose to eat what’s been donated. An unpalatable choice is still a choice.

    Nov 15, 2012 at 10:45 am   rating: 90  
     

  • #4.18   The Elf

    Good point.

    Nov 15, 2012 at 11:24 am   rating: 90  
     

  • #4.19   Sarah

    There’s also this thing where animal milk has to be refrigerated while soy/almond/rice milk doesn’t have to be refrigerated until after it’s open. This would make it more suitable for donating to a food bank while having similar nutritional value to regular milk.

    Nov 15, 2012 at 5:59 pm   rating: 90  
     

  • #4.20   Katieriffic

    Really, if a poor or homeless person wants to only eat vegan stuff, that’s their choice. I’m not going to begrudge them that and lecture them about “beggars shouldn’t be choosers” – that just sounds like you’re flaunting your own privilege and supposed superiority. Self-satisfied moralizing about how people have a “choice” of whether or not to eat food that would actually make them sick (in the case of allergies/intolerance) is even worse.

    Asking the charity (if possible) what the recipients WANT to eat is a nice idea – it makes your donation a lot more meaningful than just tossing random crumbs and feeling righteous about it.

    Nov 15, 2012 at 8:14 pm   rating: 90  
     

  • #4.21   The Elf

    You’ll take my random crumbs and like it, damn it.

    Nov 16, 2012 at 11:00 am   rating: 90  
     

  • #4.22   shepd

    UHT milk requires no refrigeration until opened. It’s pretty standard fare in Europe, and is available (although not popular) in the US and Canada.

    It also lasts a LOT longer. And yes, it comes in giant tetra paks and really, it won’t go off even if you leave it in your car.

    It does taste a little different, but nothing that I’ve ever cared about. And if you want to be super-helpful to a food bank, donate some lactose intolerance dairy pills and you’ll be doing someone a world a good.

    I wish it would get more popular here, because it is so much easier to just stock 3 or 4 tetra paks of milk instead of HAVING to go to the grocery store when you’re out.

    Nov 17, 2012 at 5:43 pm   rating: 90  
     

  • #4.23   konkonsn

    Some vegans or vegetarians have been so for so long that products they’ve abstained from can actually make them ill. I know a vegetarian that, because of where we were living at the time, would have found it easier to eat fish for a few months, but the smell of it alone made her stomach turn.

    Also, I know most people only think of vegetarians and vegans as white, middle-class teens and young adults who are just doing it for kicks, but there are lots of religions and very strongly held moral beliefs (even by some of those sanctimonious teens, gasp!) that require certain dietary restrictions. It’s not so much a choice, then.

    Nov 23, 2012 at 2:31 pm   rating: 90  
     

  • #4.24   Shaydie

    I am a vegetarian who has had to eat at a food bank during hard times. They give me beans and rice and peanut butter, but I will skip the cans of tuna. It’s not that I’m ungrateful, and it hurts to feel that way when someone sneers at your for it. I take what’s offered that’s vegetarian with much appreciation. But yes, I have been sneered at. It’s hard for some people to understand — I can only compare it like if someone offered you a can of beans, a bag of rice, and some kitten meat, and you declined on the kitten meat. I’ll ration out the other stuff and not starve. I have two autoimmune diseases and am a single mom of one, car was stolen, deaths in the family, am only working part-time… but I’m not going to compromise and cause pain to another living being; I know what it’s like to be in pain or hurt and I can’t be a part of it, personally. It doesn’t even feel like a choice to me. I hate being thought of as an ingrate and in better times have donated myself. I leave the cans of chicken soup for those who can use it.

    (Sorry to be Debbie Downer, just had to get my two cents in.)

    Dec 6, 2012 at 10:25 pm   rating: 90  
     

  • #4.25   Shaydie

    …and I wanted to add, it’s not the same as saying, “Ew, no! I don’t like raisins!” and refusing food like that. I can’t stand beets or turnips, but I would eat them if I was starving. I don’t feel like “beggars can’t be choosers” applies when it’s something so deep within your moral core. And as for buying expensive “vegan” food and using up my money, no. I eat lentils and brown rice from the bulk bins. Two pounds of carrots for 99 cents, that type thing. I don’t shop at Whole Foods, that’s for sure.

    (BTW when I have found something like almond milk, I was really happy/excited. So thanks to this lady, even though she was mean about it.)

    Dec 7, 2012 at 8:43 am   rating: 90  
     
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• #5   havingfitz

  I work for a voluntary energy conservation program. We frequently get calls from people screaming at us that we’re “tools of Obama”. Pointing out that the program has been in existence since the George W. Bush administration is always fun.

  Nov 13, 2012 at 5:22 pm   rating: 90  
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  • #5.1   Poltergeist

    America at its finest. To some people (roughly half the population), anything that might possibly benefit somebody other than themselves is apparently socialism, which is clearly really, really bad. That damn Marxist Communist Muslim hippie apologist Black Panther Hitler!

    Nov 14, 2012 at 12:52 am   rating: 90  
     

  • #5.2   Purr Monster

    @havingfitz & poltergeist: This kills me. I’ve studied Russian and Russia most of my life, and I’ve been to the USSR. Having people declare we’re in a communist state makes me want to educate them about Stalin.

    Nov 14, 2012 at 8:09 am   rating: 90  
     

  • #5.3   havingfitz

    What’s really funny is that we’re not affiliated with the government at all. We’re a private company that provides conservation equipment to utilities and helps them with curtailments. And again it’s completely voluntary. I had someone call me up earlier this year to tell me that not only was he NOT going to join but that he intended to run everything electrical in his house full blast all summer and use up as much energy as he could. Whatever floats your boat, dear. Enjoy that $2000.00 bill…

    Nov 14, 2012 at 3:02 pm   rating: 90  
     

  • #5.4   Vulpis

    What’s even funnier is when these people pitching hissies about socialism in the US threaten to move to France…
    Not to mention–IIRC, didn’t Russia actually fall short of being true communism anyway?

    I never have quite understood what’s so bad about socialism as a construct, anyway–government-backed and controlled basic services, with luxuries working on a capitalist system? Sounds rather useful about now, to be honest.

    Nov 14, 2012 at 4:21 pm   rating: 90  
     

  • #5.5   havingfitz

    “How dare you threaten me with national health care, legal pot, and legal gay marriage. I have a good mind to just pack and and move to Canada where…Canada has WHAT?”

    Nov 14, 2012 at 4:26 pm   rating: 90  
     

  • #5.6   Purr Monster

    @Vulpis–Yes, the USSR did not have true communism. I’m a cynic. As long as you have humans, you will have people who want power or $$, or both, no matter what political system is in use.

    @havingfitz–I know, right? LOL

    Nov 14, 2012 at 6:27 pm   rating: 90  
     

  • #5.7   BuckyTooth

    @Purr Monster,

    Right? These people are MORONS if they think we live in a communist state and have a dictator for a leader. Dictators don’t get elected in with a majority of the votes. We don’t even have a Putin on our hands, who has been accused of voter fraud to get elected. We have a legitimately elected leader. If these people even bothered to Google “communism”, they’d see that they’re morons. But, no, even a simple Google search is too hard for them. Just keep making up BS and repeating what you hear from Rush and Ann. They even compare Obama to Hitler. What A-holes.

    Nov 15, 2012 at 5:25 am   rating: 90  
     

  • #5.8   Christy

    Hitler was elected. And I agree with the note writer. If everyone wants taxes to increase exponentially for “free” stuff, I’m done with donations. Obama provides via theft from those who produce to give to those who won’t.

    Nov 25, 2012 at 9:43 am   rating: 90  
     
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• #6   Mandy Brigwell

  If the almond milk doesn’t put them off asking for a donation next year, nothing will… it’s that watery fluid with the promise of a vague sense that you might have seen an almond some time in the past few minutes. Oh, yeah – it was on the packet.

  Nov 13, 2012 at 5:23 pm   rating: 90  
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  • #6.1   kermit

    You can make your own almond milk, at significantly less cost than the store-bought kind. Get a handful of (bleached) almonds, a grinder/blender and some water. Combine to desired degree of wateriness.

    Nov 14, 2012 at 6:50 am   rating: 90  
     

  • #6.2   Leaping Lizard

    BLEACHED almonds??! I hope you mean blanched…otherwise I’d see a gastroenterologist if I were you.

    Nov 14, 2012 at 7:57 am   rating: 90  
     

  • #6.3   kermit

    Sorry, brain fart. Of course I meant blanched. Personally abhor the stuff and don’t really understand why you’d want to ruin perfectly good almonds.

    Nov 14, 2012 at 3:08 pm   rating: 90  
     
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• #7   Ely North

  Little known fact: the Lincoln Bedroom is packed to the ceiling with almond milk. It’s Obama’s dirty little secret – he’s addicted to the stuff. Certainly, he has enough to donate, so this angry person doesn’t need to be bothered any more.

  Nov 13, 2012 at 7:18 pm   rating: 90  
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• #8   Omnivore

  Oh geez. This is a prime example of the holier than thou attitude people assume all residents of the eastern suburbs of Detroit have. The notewriter is a bad apple.

  Why take their anger about the election out on little kids giving up a Saturday to run a food drive?

  Nov 13, 2012 at 10:32 pm   rating: 90  
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  • #8.1   Djagir

    Obviously, because they didn’t have the wherewithal to be sanctimonious folks sitting around on a website trashing on an organization is at least attempting to make better citizens out of young men. (Yes, they’re not perfect. Cut them some slack, people.)

    Nov 14, 2012 at 1:45 am   rating: 90  
     

  • #8.2   The Elf

    Cut the Boy Scouts some slack? The ones that covered up pedophilia in order to protect the good name of Scouting? Sure, let’s do that.

    I agree that the Boy Scouts do great work. But to say that they aren’t perfect is really putting it mildly. There’s some deep flaws in that organization!

    Nov 14, 2012 at 7:50 am   rating: 90  
     

  • #8.3   Rattus

    Sorry, Djagir, but I will never voluntarily cut slack for any organization that has a written policy of bigotry.

    Nov 14, 2012 at 8:16 am   rating: 90  
     

  • #8.4   FeatherBlade

    So, wait… did the Boy Scout have problems with pedophiles before, or after, they started allowing homosexual scoutmasters?

    Nov 14, 2012 at 11:37 am   rating: 90  
     

  • #8.5   DaveGI

    FeatherBlade, I guess the answer to that would be “before” since the BSA have been keeping a confidential list of alleged abusers since the 1960s. Alleged abusers who they never reported to the authorities to protect the reputation of the organization.

    Oh, and also because the BSA to this day have never allowed homosexual scoutmasters.

    Nov 14, 2012 at 12:26 pm   rating: 90  
     

  • #8.6   The Elf

    For the record, they revised their procedures in 2010 to automatically report suspected abusers to the police for investigation and to reduce the liklihood that any child will be abused by making it so no single adult is supposed to be alone with the kids at any time.

    So, credit to the Boy Scouts there. I’m just sorry that it took until 2010, and that their files had to be dragged out of them.

    Nov 14, 2012 at 12:49 pm   rating: 90  
     

  • #8.7   TirePatch King

    Some corrections…. The BSA kept the “Ineligible Volunteer” files from 1959 to the early 80′s as a very primitive, feeble attempt to protect the boys from predators in the days before computer databases (not cover up crimes as one idiot implied- why would you keep a database of crimes you intend to cover up? That doesn’t even make sense.) About a third of the cases in the files had no record of police reports…with a full spectrum of possibilities why- from the popular conspiracy theories to the probability that if a cursory law enforcement investigation went nowhere, then no report was filed (consider the era).
    The BSA instituted Youth Protection Training in the late 80′s (not in 2010 as one poster stated) long before most other youth-oriented orgs. The YPT program has evolved over the years to try to keep up with most states broad array of abuse reporting laws, and still make the training basic enough considering the high turnover volume of volunteers.

    Nov 14, 2012 at 9:12 pm   rating: 90  
     

  • #8.8   Poltergeist

    All that matters is that they fought to keep these files secret, there were numerous allegations that were not reported and charges that were not filed for the sake of the organization, and there were men who were allowed to continue on in the Scouts despite accusations. Don’t attempt to minimize their inaction. The evidence is there, and there is no excuse.

    Nov 15, 2012 at 12:15 am   rating: 90  
     

  • #8.9   The Elf

    I wasn’t getting the “cover-up” out of thin air. Read the newspaper articles surrounding the release of the files. On more than one occassion, the BSA decided to simply oust the abuser from their organization rather than expose him in order to protect the organization’s reputation. Read the LA Times to get the full picture.

    And yes, it was 2010 when the Boy Scouts made the policy requiring local scout leaders to report suspected pedophiles to the police. 2010.

    Nov 15, 2012 at 7:29 am   rating: 90  
     
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• #9   fpelayo

  With an attitude like that, I bet the milk he picked out had its expiry date just around the corner.

  Nov 13, 2012 at 11:31 pm   rating: 90  
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• #10   T1000

  this is fake

  Nov 14, 2012 at 9:22 am   rating: 90  
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  • #10.1   sleeps

    So’s your face.

    Nov 14, 2012 at 9:31 am   rating: 90  
     

  • #10.2   chavantgarde

    Go back to Lamebook, asshole!

    Nov 15, 2012 at 1:06 am   rating: 90  
     

  • #10.3   IamFuckingDelish

    T1000, You my friend, are as fucking delish as the windows you lick.

    Nov 20, 2012 at 2:53 pm   rating: 90  
     
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