and because taking part in an activity that glorifies one of the seven deadly sins (gluttony) is also a way to "help spread Jesus and God’s message through a Christian group like this."

Does anyone know if CFA donates their unused cooked food at the end of the day to homeless shelters or food banks like some other restaurants do?

@Floyd's...ridiculous comment. People NEED to eat in order to live. Eating is not gluttony. I guess you think everytime someone has breakfast (or eats at a CHURCH potluck supper!) they are committing one of the seven deadly sins?

@oswegoannie I totally agree, people do NEED to eat in order to survive. But eating a year's worth of fried fast food isn't exactly surviving. Also, do you mean to tell me that in this day and age, it is perfectly acceptable for someone to spend time, burn fuel, and waste money to travel ACROSS THE COUNTRY just so they can get some free fast food?! And do this multiple times? How about taking all the money you spent on making this treck and donating it to a local charity/food bank. It'd be one thing if you were showing up for a free meal, but for a year's worth of free chicken? Listen, I'm all for the freedom to do what you want, but to say these grand-opening fiascos are a way to "help spread Jesus and God’s message through a Christian group like this" is stretching it a bit. As the old saying goes, you can put lipstick on a pig (or in this case a chicken)...

Why is it that the so called Christians do not follow Christ teachings? This company claims to follow biblical teachings. You would think that instead of giving out all this free food, they could make a donation to a needy organization within the community or make a donation to a local food bank. That would be more in line with Christ's teachings.

Instead their free food give-away is just a form of business greed.

"As the old saying goes, you can put lipstick on a pig (or in this case a chicken)..."

Love it....

"could make a donation to a needy organization" How do you know they don't? This franchise just opened and like many of the businesses in Oswego will probably give locally.

I don't know for sure. However, you would think that CFA would make it known that they do since they promote their 1st 100 giveaway when they open a store. They also promote how they follow biblical teachings. Why advertise these things and not others?

Josh..I believe i must have missed the part of the message of Jesus where he called people's mothers whores...or critcized in a very rude and obnoxios way, people's weight or looks. Is there a part of the bible that is missing where Jesus was telling people that thier d read parents or grandparents are burning in hell? I didn't think so...

We were there from 5-8pm as planned, very positive support shown from passing motorists and others who were in the area Thursday night. In fact some patrons from the Oswego C-f-A came over to find out about the protest, picked up some of our signs and joined us for about 45 mins and were highly supportive.

There were a lot of honks, waves and cheers we received, especially compared to the small number of counter protesters who identified themselves as being from 'Sons of Thunder' who spent 3 hours expressing their hatred and inflammatory rhetoric.

@Steve, do you have any info on 'Sons of Thunder'? Do you think they will be at the Bolingbrook store on Sep 6? I got to see a dose of them towards the end of your evening. These people were very scary. I hope you realize that some Christian's were challenging what they were doing to your group. The groups hate was projected at anyone that disagreed with them including the Christian's that were telling them they were wrong. Let me know, You can contact me @ d.scott.harmon@gmail.com Regards.

@Scott: Thanks, yes I am aware that the 'Sons of Thunder' group was not being well received by other Christians and others who took strong exceptions to their vitriolic hate. I know such groups are a tiny minority among people of faith.

I've no idea if they will or won't be showing up at other upcoming openings at C-f-A or elsewhere in the area. They are certainly a less than exemplary group of individuals who were filled with anger and animosity towards anyone who disagreed with them or their agenda.

I may contact you later via your email address today or tomorrow to continue this exchange. Again, thanks for responding and your kind words.

Scott...the only thing we know about this "Sons of Thunder" group is that they are out of Florida. I would say that they belong to an Apostolic or Pentecostal group by the way the women that were with them were dressed. There are several groups out there called Sons of Thunder. One is a fundamentalist Christian group out of GA that is listed as a hate group by the SPLC...I couldn't find a link between them and the group that was at the protest. There is also a group of Christian Bikers, but i do see that they are related. This is being researched.

@Eric, I would like to know what you discover about 'Sons of Thunder'. Did you notice the women were videotaping people that engaged with them?

Yep...I also got pics of them too....and a video ;-)

@Eric, do you mind sharing your video and pics? I usually have my gear going, but didn't in this case since I didn't want to bother your group and it was more of a date night for my wife and I. You can respond to my personal email @d.scott.harmon@gmail.com

Amazing chicken?? What? Chicken is just chicken! What's the big deal? Why can't people get excited about something other than food?

Or you can go to church on Saturday, open on Sunday, pay your employees time and a half, and donate the rest of your profits to a needy organization like Hesed House.

I know what you mean. I wonder why stores allow this. Have you seen the mess some of these campers make when they camp out after Thanksgiving for the Black Friday sales?

When you go to CFA for lunch, perhaps you can get a metting with Dan Cathy. You can talk about the poor shape D308 is in and maybe Cathy can donate millions to school district? Maybe D308 can get CFA to sponsor the cafeterias at the schools - turn them into chickenterias or maybe you can get CFA to provide free lunches to the school district for a year. That would be very Christian of them now wouldnt it.

@Logansdad...what about the school districts the other 1648 CFAs are in? Is 308 the only one that's important?

There are some that beleive CFA is this great company because they can give away chicken sandwiches. If those that feel passionate about CFA and the kind of company it claims to be, why not get CFA to sponsor things in school district? What did you find wrong with my idea?

Did you want a real answer from me or did you expect that I would spew my animosity spewed toward you. LOL. If you want to petition CFA on behalf of every other school district in this country go ahead, but why would I worry about them since I live in Oswego?

Now that they are in the area, I wouldn't be surprised if they did an Oswego308 night or one for various churches and organizations in the area...like Cold Stone, etc. do. Give them time to move in.

Why worry about other schools besides Oswego? You're worried about the GLBT groups out of the area...why not other schools too?

Martin, care to list all the LGBT groups in Oswego and in the area?

Logansdad...I didn't mention any in the area nor referenced them. I said that you were worried about the ones OUT of the area. I haven't gone seeking them out but would assume there are some in the area, maybe even downtown Oswego.

Do you think the out of area ones were mentioned because there are no LGBT groups in the area.?

I don't think he would Logansdad...Dan Cathy is too busy donating money to organizations that lobby for legislation to make being homosexual and executable offense. Just as the folks in Uganda. One of groups that gets millions of dollars from CFA is Exodus International. They were part of the lobbying effort in Uganda to pass that law. Now, if you are a gay Ugandan, you can be executed just because you are gay. Folks, when you spend your money at CFA...it goes to hate and murder. Last i checked, that was pretty diametrically opposed to what Jesus taught.

If you want to debate a topic, I am willing to debate it intelligently. However when you start out by defining equality as winning a baseball game and then later try to define it by saying you buy your chicken sandwiches equally from restaurant A and B. How intelligent does that make you sound? You are the one that then adds the budget problems of the schoold district into the conversation.

Simple answer. Because the oil is bought from gas stations that are American run and owned. Do you buy your gas directly from Iran or Saudi Arabi?

Amen. I posted something similar online the other day and got heavily attacked by some str8 GLBT supporters for not understanding the difference between a Christian chicken place and oil companies buying Muslim oil. .

Logansdad...do by CFA sandwiches straight from Mr Cathy or from local business owners that may or may not support GLBT objectives?

Hey Logan's Dad.

Most of the Chick Fil A's are franchises. That does not mean they share the same veiws as the Cathy Family.

Martin & Jungle Jerry there is a big difference between buying oil and buying a chicken sandwich. Cathy said he runs his business based on Christian values. While each franchise has their own operators, they are run according to the standards Mr. Cathy sets. Do you think the franchises can open on Sunday if they want, nope. See the fanchises do have rules that are set by Cathy they must follow.

Furthermore, it is the profits Mr. Cathy receives from his franchises that are used for his donations. No sales = No profits = No donations.

"No sales = No profits = No donations"....Profits from oil sales are going to governments and groups that are worse than Mr. Cathy on many fronts.

Martin which governments are you talking about. The Iranian and Saudi government do not effect me in Oswego.

And the Christian Fellowship of Students does?

Government sponsered terrorism, which has links to the oil sales from Saudi Arabia and Iran, are the reason that I have to almost strip naked to fly. That impacts me way more than Mr Cathy's support of various groups that may or may not be violent (depending on you definitions of violence).

Martin...the profits from the sandwiches you buy at CFA...regardless if it is a franchise or not...go in part to several different hate groups. CFA donates millions of dollars to hate groups every year. CFA is an American owned business that we can directly effect. Gas is something that is required to get around these days. Not all of the gas you buy comes from oil drilled in Muslim countries. Go get an education on where oil comes from for gas and how it is distributed so you can at least have an informed opinion. Gas is sold by American owned businesses. The gas stations we buy our gas from are not corporate entities. They are individually owned businesses. We can and do pick and choose our battles. Not a whole lot we can do about he policies of foreign nations. We can, however, effect the policies of American businesses. The whole gs analogy is what is called a false equivalency. It is a logical fallacy. Take a debate class while you are at it ;-)

A battle of wits betwen unarmed people.

I enjoy playing with people...so far Logansdad has really thrilled me....

"IN YOUR DREAMS YOU JERK! Chik-Fil-A FOREVER!!!!! WOOO HOO!!!"

I think you just proved his point.

So....."If you are truly passionate about what you believe then you have the option not to fly or buy gas from a particular company."

that means I or anyone else has the right to patronize a business or not regardless of what you or anyone else may believe or is it only a one way street based on what you think is right

Where did I say you couldnt patrionize any business you desire. I never said any such thing so dont put words in my mouth.

Jimmy you wont hurt my feelings. You dont want to debate anything. Instead you come up with all these other issues to deflect from the main issue. If you really feel you can debate a topic I suggest you learn about the issues first. In addition to me you were also called out on your "what if" question so I am not the only one who thought it was pointless

Logansdad...I'm not trying to hurt your feelings, you obviously have none to hurt. You are as narrow minded as me, we're just polar opposite. I like CFA. I know that upsets you, but if you could just open your little heart to me, even though I have sinned against you, I'm sure we culd find some common ground. I do help out at Hesed House with my church and I volunteer several times a year at Feed My Starving Children in Aurora, we pack thousands of meals a year and they are sent all over the world to those in need. Funny huh Logansdad...a Republican...a conservative helping the needy....only in America

Thats your opinion. I like how you want people to protest against gas stations because you are passionate about it. Well I think your protest is stupid.

And for the record, this protest is no different than the Christians boycotting against Planned Parenthood or the boycotts by Conservative groups against Target Amazon or Nabisco.

I don't protest anything but protesters

Their protest is not stupid. It's only stupid to you because you don't agree and don't understand. It has just as much meaning as those that participated in Chik-fil-a appreciation day. People everywhere are standing for what they believe in. That's what this is about. I don't agree with or support the causes they donate to, so I won't go there, out of principal, and everyone else has that same right/choice to patronize them or not. Everyone has a right to protest, and it has HUGE meaning.

Jerry...you'll have better luck beating your head against a brick wall. We complain that the D.C. politicians can't compromise or find common ground and can only stick to their narrow points of view. Well, read through all this and you'll see you don't have to go to D.C to find unwillingness to see each others point of view.

Is that the best intelligent comment you have. Let's put it this way. I am more of a man than you will ever be.

Jerry, I get that you are having your fun with Logans dad and being a smart ass just to piss him off, but please leave the stereotypical homophobic comments at home!

You could give the coupons to me Jane. Don't get get your panties in a bunch! I bet that before your opperation your name was James.

I am a Teamster. I worked with a guy that was named Jody. He got a sex change and now his name is Jodie, He lives in Plano.

I believe as long as there is no cost to the district to print the material they will put it into the take home folders. When my kids were in school here we got all sorts of what you could call advertising. It cut back for a bit then picked up again. Who knows, as strapped for cash as the district is, maybe they made a deal or they made a donation.

I receive regular solicitations from Culvers in my kids' backpack.....maybe Chik-Fil-A will join them in contributing a small amount of sales to the schools? Haven't seen them yet?

Jerry,

"Responce" is correctly spelled like this: r-e-s-p-o-n-s-e.
"Intilligent" is correctly spelled like this: i-n-t-e-l-l-i-g-e-n-t.

I think you already know how to spell "fool"

Here's the deal. "Jungle Jerry" and many others like him are one dimensional bigots mainly driven by ignorance and easy to define. You on the other hand are more troubling to me. I assume from your screen name you're raising children. What would happen if one of them turned out to be gay and was harassed or physically harmed in some way by someone like "Jungle?"

I regret ever having moved out to this small minded little village of bigots who call themselves conservatives and Christians. American Taliban.

Oswego mom, why is it that when conservatives run out of negative things to say, they stop posting. So much for actually wanting to debate a topic.

When Christians decide to start actually following what Jesus taught and start treating people like Jesus would have treatedpeople,the fightingwill stop.until then,we will stand up and fight for our rights...and for,what is right.

Amanda,

God is not some milquetoast higher being smiling down on everything we do. If that is the God you believe in, then you must be reading a different Bible.

You cannot simultaneously believe in Jesus and then claim to believe in tenets contrary to what Jesus taught. That's the same as saying, "My dog is a cat."

Do you think you are actually living up to Jesus' tenets? What don't you please list what Jesus said about homosexuality. If you look at the Bible, you will see that he did not mention one word about it.

@ Oswego308watch.... No one said I believed in either god or the bible... I actually believe in neither. However, I do believe that we all need to act like adults and start respecting eachother... would you allow your children to talk to people like this? I know I sure wouldn't allow my child to ever talk to anyone this way!

Oswego308watch...please enlighten us on what Jesus said about homosexuals...I eagerly await your reply...

Correction for the link above:
http://www.factcheck.org/what_is_a_civil_union.html

Steve,

You seem to believe that by desire you can change the laws of nature. By nature, marriage is defined as the union of a man and a woman. Marriage is an impossibility between members of the same sex. It is akin to believing your watch is really a pepperoni pizza.

This kind of anti-logic was born out of the philosophy of Rene DeCartes, "I think, therefore, I am." These modes of thinking are at the very source of the disintegration of our society.

The civil law protects marriage for the simple reason that marriage begets children resulting in a family, the foundation of all civilization. Studies have shown time and again that children without mom and dad in the home do worse than children raised in a complete family unit.

If a man can marry a man, then why can't a woman marry a horse?

"Marriage is an impossibility between members of the same sex."

Same sex marriage is allowed in multiple countries and 6 US states. It is a reality not an impossibility.

Marriage is not about procreation so another failed argument. There also have been studies showing children raised by same sex couples are just as fine as those that are raised by heterosexuals.

Marry a horse. Do you think animal can enter into a contract? Please deal with real situations not some fantasies.

Oswego308: Where in nature is marriage defined as between a man and a womn (let alone defined at all)?

So if civil law protects marriage only for procreation, why is it legal for the elderly, who are long past the age of child bearing, to get married.

"If a man can marry a man, then why can't a woman marry a horse?"
A horse cannot give consent. Methinks you need to take a logic class.

There goes the Christians again telling people what they should and should not do.

Hmmm....I think there is a bunch of people telling me not to eat at Chick-Fil-A.....another double-standard.....and yes some of those people are wishing me death by cancer for eating at CFA....to me that is hateful and supports hate....CFA is here to stay until all of it's patrons die from cancer : )

Scott, please provide the comments from this site where people wished you death. I do not see them.

@Logansdad, I didn't state they were on this site. Your observation on this site is correct,

Actually...no Scott...you are free to eat where you like. We are just informing you of where you money goes when you patronize CFA. If you have no problem with your money going to fund hate groups, feel free to keep patronizing CFA. However, if you feel hate is wrong, as Jesus taught, then you would not want to patronize a company that sends money to hate groups. No one is standing front of you and preventing you from doing anything. You have free will. We are just trying to educate you so you can make an informed decision.

@JimmyJ, you are correct, I'm being accused of hate and supporting hate since I chose to eat at one particular eating establishment, therefore actions and comments are made towards my family and I that are not warranted. I should be able to do business with whomever I want without being accused of things that I'm clearly not doing. My understanding is that CFA employs gay employees and follows current laws regarding on how those employees are treated. As far as I know CFA has not violated anyone's rights and the Oswego store which is independently owned and operated by a local resident has not violated anyone's rights, so why protest against their existence when they are adding value to our community?

"so why protest against their existence when they are adding value to our community?"

Some don't see it as adding value because of the owner's stance on gay issues and the money he donates to anti-gay organizations.

It is no different than those that do not see Planned Parenthood adding value to cities in which they operate.

@Logansdad, do you know the Oswego owner's stance on gay issues? Have you spoke with the owner at the Oswego store? They are adding value to the community via jobs and providing the community an alternative place to eat out. Do you understand the owner/operator of the Oswego store is an independent franchisee? Providing a meal as a service to the community does not violate anyone's rights or harm anyone. The existence of CFA in Oswego does not promote hate or anything negative. Okay, maybe additional traffic and use of city resources which could be considered a negative. Planned Parenthood is a whole different can of warms. For starter's, it is taxpayer funded, but I can agree with your point to a point. Let's leave that one alone. At the same time you do have the right to protest as you did. At the same time those that disagree with you have rights to establish a business that adheres to the laws and ordinances that govern that business, regardless of the beliefs and philosophies of the owner(s).

No I am not aware of the owners stance. Yes the location is a franchise, but the owner takes direction from the corporation, just like McDonald's. The owner can't decide to open the location on Sunday. The owner can't decide to sell shrimp items or change what is put on their sandwiches.

I explained my reasoning the other day, but you were not around then. Cathy is able to make his donations from the profits he receives from his restaurants. If you don't go to the store, you take away his profits and thereby he can't make his donations. You may not agree with my logic, but that is my reasoning. I don't see Planned Parenthood promoting hate or anything negative either. They are offering services that some agree with and some don't. If you don't like what they have to offer, you don't go there. I don't see this as being any different.

Scott...CFA takes the profits it makes from its sales and donates some of them to hate groups. If you buy food from CFA, part of the money that you give them goes to hate groups. If you continue to buy from CFA, then you are knowingly giving money to hate groups...thus that means you support hate. CFA has several lawsuits agaisnt them in regards to discrimination agaisnt gay employees.... Would you feel the same if a company opened a store in Oswego that donated money to neo-Nazis or the KKK and still say they don't support hate? Regarless if this is a franchise or not, money from the Oswego store goes into the coffers of CFA Corporate and thus some of that gets donated to hate groups.

@Eric, I doubt the CFA is donating money to the KKK or neo-Nazis types of groups. I'm trying to find the name of the alleged "hate" groups. I'm also attempting to find out who is defining these groups as "hate" groups and what criteria they are using to define a "hate" group.

That was an example Scott...the groups tey donate to are groups like Exodus International (they were the ones that lobbied the Ugandan government to pass the legislation that made being gay an executable offense), Family Research Council, and others that support "Pray away the Gay" psuedo-therapy. The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has labeled them as hate groups because of their actions.

Eric...you can't believe everything the SLPC says. Mike McConnell on WGN radio had an interesting guest this week. They went down the list of "hate" groups on the SLPC list and many of them are one there for some pretty dubious reasons that have nothing to do with hating anyone. The interview is on his page of the WGN Radio website under podcasts.

@Jimmy: Thanks for the response above. As far as the arrangements or other steps your clients (and other LGBT couples) have taken, I'd just observe that for the cost of a civil marriage license, meeting all other requirements and a ceremony officiated by either a recognized member of the clergy or civil official, they would not have to incur the costs or take those steps. Those are automatically granted to heterosexual marriages, but not for members of lesbian or gay couples entering into a marriage in those States that grant them. The significant and substantive inequalities faced by LGBT couples and families are documented and noted in my previous post.

Just because it is not 0% doesn't invalidate there are major and serious inequities and lack of equal protections. That is what the legal basis with the equal protection clause and statutes/laws revolved around at the legal and civil levels.

We live in a secular society based upon civil laws, separate from the dictates and tenants of religious or spiritual institutions and faith communities.

Best regards

@Steve...I certainly can't comment for all, just from my personal experience with those I know personally. They've never really been "militant" for lack of a better word, you know not the type to go out and march or protest. Actually politically they are fairly conservative which is another variance from what people my generally think. They are comfortable so willing to make the adjustments. I have another friend who came here from Germany in 1951, he was a child during the Nazi era. He became a citizen and was able to vote, years before blacks who had been born and raised here could, simply because he was white, whether he was naturalized or native born mattered not. When you think about that it's interesting. In some ways the LGBT community faces similar but more complex issues because of the religious aspects of homosexuality and marriage. I don't think there will ever be any middle ground on this. I

@Jimmy: Yes, the majority of all demographic groups tends to follow the 'middle paths', live their lives out of the spotlights and muddle through the same triumphs and tribulations. That's what makes our society and country such a shining example, even with it's shortcomings, faults and less than perfect records.

To me, it's not about 'absolutes' or total agreement, but honoring our differences and supporting those of different backgrounds, heritage, sexual identity and orientation, etc. There are ways to find and reach common ground, even while holding differing views, values and positions. On that it would seem we (and others in this discussion) should be able to agree, at least.

I look at these issues from a secular and civil perspective, leaving the religious/spiritual positions aside since there are more 'flavors' and tenants of belief than you get at Baskin-Robbins. I don't see that changing anytime in the foreseeable future in my lifetime nor in the generations coming after.

Diversity is inherent and foundational in the grand scheme and make up of reality, or at least those aspects of it we mere mortals are able to ascertain, perceive and quantify to the best of our abilities. Also subject to revisions and alternative definitions..

@Steve...yep..it's an interesting place. I've been fortunate to have has several "lives" and gotten to experience life from different angles. At one time many many years ago I had a boss who was "born again" and attended Baptist church. The whole crew except for me was the same. One minor exception was my partner on the job who has become Baptist but was originally Roman Catholic, they eyed him as being somewhat lesser of a Christian, often dismissing his comments as him being "just a young Christian". We were doing a job in an Episcopal Church and our boss and the one painter we had would not set foot inside ( boss gladly took the money for the job though) because he could not understand how they could have women ministers. I haven't seem him in about 15 years so I can only imagine how he feels not that they ordain gay ministers. So I saw early on that even in the same religion, in fact the same church there is plenty of "I'm better than you". I played the role of heathen, questioning them on a daily basis. It was a lot of fun.

@ Steve..Part 2....in another one of my nine lives i worked with a guy I had no clue was gay..in an office measuring 8x8. Every Monday I'd come in with a new gay joke. After about 6 months someone told me he was gay. One Monday I came in and started in with the joke and stammered and then asked "Why didn't you tell me" his reply was would it have made a difference, we had become good friends by then, I looked down with what I'm sure was the look of ok I'm a real you know what, and looked at him and said nope. I think the best I can say for myself is that some things are just too much for us feeble humans and should we face a judgement day, I'm going to let God sort it out. If I'm wrong and I go to hell...I'll have a lot of company.

@Jimmy: Well said and quite concur as a whole with your last two replies to me. I've often been in similar circumstances and situations in my own sojourns in life. It's quite the adventure, is it not. Having found myself also as one of the 'outsiders' or renegades (or as I prefer cultural infidels and fellow fruitcakes to borrow a couple turns of phrase from Jimmy Buffett ~grinz~).

With luck, when Desdemona finally launches her rocket ship I'll be on the crew list or at least get a good view of the launchpad.

I also have first hand experiences of the 'who's the more orthodox and true believer(s)', both within and between various sects, faiths and social groups. It seems to be the common human experiences, for boon and bane. Group think and echo chamber logic lead to much of the needless and pointless strife we all face in this mortal existence.

In closing, as the song line and refrain goes...'what a long, strange trip it's been...'

Thanks Steve...I agree. One last character comes to mind, he was a hydrographer in his last iteration. He had been an electronic engineer back in the vacuum tube days and worked for Motorola when they started out as Galvin Engineering, he sat up radars in WW2 in the pacific...he was as he said himself "a hard ass republican" and without a doubt one of the most racist people I have ever met anywhere. in his later years, dying of prostate cancer with no one around but one or two close friends ( he never married ) I know he had changed. One of the last things he said to me was "just try and leave the place better than you found it"

@JimmyJ, I bet there are many people that do not agree with Dan Cathy's position that still eat and work at Chick Fil A restaurants. Just like I do business with companies that have policies and programs in place that I do not agree with. This is America, a huge meltlng pot of ideas and philosophies. You could spend a lot of energy on trying to avoid what you don't agree with and miss out on some opportunities.

Most of us don't necessarily research every company we do business with. For me its a paring down as i find things that they do that I just can't overlook. Things like what CFA does...or how Walmart treats it's employees. Some are a little more researched, like not doing business with Home Depot because they are major republican contributors. With ruling like Citizens United, it is becoming more and more important to vote with our dollars. Corporations now have the unlimited ability to effect our elections...the only way we have to limit that is to stop giving them out money so they just don't have it to give to politicians or other causes that we believe are wrong.

And Obama doesn't have a super pac?

@JimmyJ, well as I get older I realize more and more on how much I don't know. Just keep that between you and I : )

"I don't recall reading or hearing anything about how rotten and evil they were until the infamous statement by Mr. Cathy"

There has been speculation for a long time about where he was donating his money. It took him years to finally admit it. Once he confirmed it, people could actually confront him openly about it.

As far as raising voices before hand, I don't remember the village asking the residents to vote on which stores/restaurants they wanted in the village. So how could people raise voices before hand when people do not know about lease negotiations until after they take place.

Probably right. If Mr. Cathy kept his mouth shut, this probably wouldn't be an issue. I am sure it would have come out eventually...who knows. The fact is that this did come to light. What i don;t get is why any business would want to do anything that would alienate customers. To me, as a small business owner, that would be the stupidest thing in the world. Smart businesses try and stay neural...especially on hot button issues like this. If he would have been smart, he would have donated all this money on a personal level and no one would have had an issue with it.

Eric, you said if he gave all his money on a personal level, no one would have any issue with it? What sense does that make..."here's a million from my company" or "here's a million from my pocket"

No I am not aware of things leaking out.

With your example you made my point...people mobilized and did something about something they did not like once they found out about, not before hand. You criticize what is being done about CFA but it is no different with the affordable housing.

I had heard things about CFA and why they were not open on Sundays long before the Fox Valley Store opened. When the Fox Valley store opened I refused to eat there because of their religious beliefs and what I had heard about their anti-gay ways. I did not find out about the Oswego location until it was posted in the Patch. At that time I was against them opening for two reasons. The big reason is I felt the location would add to the congestion on Ogden Ave.That stretch of road between Wal-mart and Home Depot is a nightmare to drive during the day. The second reason was because of what I knew about their anti-gay policies. There were others at that time that expressed concerns about their policies as well.

I became more vocal recently when I learned the true extent of Cathy's ways and donations.

And for the record, I refuse to eat at Cracker Barrel for similar reasons.

For me...I never really knew anything about them. I had seen their name in a few surveys, but didn't really pay attention to them because they weren't in our area. When they opened stores in the Chicago area, i started to pay more attention...then I heard about their donations to hate groups and then I realized I would never do business with them and as a part of that, i also wanted to get the word out about where their money goes so people can make an informed decision as to whether or not they would patronize them. That is what the protest was about...as well as continued resistance to their presence.

@Eric, What are names of the alleged hate groups that are funded by CFA? Who determines that they are a hate group? Are they known for committing hate crimes? Is support of biblical doctrine considered hate?

Exodus International and Family Research Council. When you are advocating discrimination, then yes...you are a advocating hate. Hate masked with religion is still hate.

I have lived in Oswego 12 years. I learn about village items when they are posted in the newspapers. There were no signs indicating CFA was being built on the site after during the construction process from what I could tell.

I am aware of Hobby Lobby not being open on Sundays. I have never made any purchases there because I don't have a need to purchase the items they sell.

I went u and asked one of the construction guys, that's how I found out. the Planning Commission used to conduct meetings, school stuff is where I stick my nose, usually not so much with the Village, so I'm not sure when they meet, they B of E and the Village met on the same day and time for many many years making it impossible to attend both, that way they split the opposition.

The larger position - to make people aware of the owner's stance on some issues. Let people then decide if those issue matter to them or not. If it prevents people from buying from CFA good for us, if not, no skin off my back. People are free to do what they want.

If it reduces his capabilities to donate to hate groups, then we have won. Every person that decides that supporting hate is not worth it, that is that much less Dan Cathy has to give to hate groups.

Eric, you sound a lot like some of the Occupy protesters I've heard interviews with.

CFA wasn't giving to anti-gay groups...the owner was with HIS money. Ald. Moreno is just trying to save face.

Where do you think Dan Cathy was getting his money from....some it was from the profits from his restaurants and franchise fees.

I am going to continue eating there anyway!

If it was just Dan Cathy donating, there there wouldn't have been as much of an issue...the problem was that he was doing this in the company's name and made it part of the restaurant rather than something personal. Good to see that you don't care that they support hate Kevin. When one person doesn't have their freedom, none of us do. I served in the Army to protect everyone's freedom. Dan Cathy and his company were representing and donating organizations who's mission is to deny people's freedom. Not very American.

What freedom was being denied?