Wednesday, January 13, 2010

The swaggering arrogance is simply breathtaking...

Over at The Travis McGee Reader, I was informed of the latest attempt by the government of New York City to meddle in the affairs of the rest of the nation: Apparently the plebs there won't Do Right and eat less salt, so Steps Must Be Taken:
But, Farley said, simply asking the public to be more careful about what they eat hasn't worked...
Jesus wept, the man sounds like an Ayn Rand villain! "Well, we asked you proles to cut down on your salt intake, but you wouldn't do what's best for you. Now we'll have to order the manufacturers to remove it from your food."

What's appalling is that New Yorkers have apparently grown docile enough to tolerate being spoken to like this.

Meanwhile, Mayor Bloomberg puts salt on his salt, and then rolls it in salt. Apparently members of the Inner Party have different dietary needs than you proles. It's hard and thankless work governing all you little people, you know.

27 comments:

Joanna said...

What about hypovolemics like my sister, who have to ingest massive quantities of salt to keep their blood pressure above the "faints in a stiff breeze" level? Not all geese and ganders take the same sauce.

I read somewhere that Bloomberg himself is a regular junk-food junkie. I can't say for sure if it's true, but it wouldn't surprise me in the least if it was.

Tam said...

Members of the Inner Party have different dietary needs than you proles. It's hard and thankless work governing all you little people, you know.

Jim said...

There was one cute followup in the New York press. Seems Mayor Bloomie is saltier than Popeye -- spreads crystals of doom on about everything he eats. We may assume there will be a Gracie Mansion exception written into what ever new law-for-your-own-good gets passed back there.

WV: gerim. I hear salt kills gerims.

Anonymous said...

First they came for the smokers...but I didn't speak up because I didn't like the way that my clothes smelled like smoke when I drove home drunk from the bar.

Anonymous said...

It says bad things about NY citizens that this guy hasn't been run out of town covered in tar and feathers.

Jim

Joseph said...

As a person who's trying to reduce salt intake, I am all too aware of the insane levels of sodium in packaged and restaurant food. I'm continually frustrated by not being able to order or to have to ask for no seasoning or salt on my meal. I surely would like it if food providers cut the amount of sodium in their products in half, more in some cases.

That said, I can think of nothing worse than to have some idiot in another city dictate what's best for this nation. Educate people on exactly what this sodium is doing to them and educate them as to how much of the stuff is in what they eat, but if they want to eat it, by all means, let them.

John B said...

Any time I confront a New York City citizen, They try to tell me how I should run my life. Never Fails. I usually tell them...

Go to Hell!
oh wait!
You're already there!

Fuzzy Curmudgeon said...

Reflectoscope +1. On a rail, even.

wv: benecur. Good dog.

Unknown said...

Be funny if the major food companies just said:

"Fine, food deliveries to New York are suspended until further notice"...

davek

Joel said...

Yeah, I never understood why the pre-gov carmakers still bothered with catering to California demands, either, but at least that was a major percentage of their market. This is beyond ridiculous. A city issues demands on how much salt food companies should use, and the result isn't derisive laughter? - oh, beam me up, Scotty, now, now, oh god, now!

By coincidence I watched The Day After Tomorrow last night and wondered how many other people had the same reaction as me; "Good Frigging Riddance."

NYC long ago joined Chicago on my list of places wild horses couldn't drag me to visit.

Bram said...

Queen Bloomberg does have some different standards. Salt on saltines?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/23/dining/23bloom.html?_r=1

Anyone who has worked in the Insurance industry knows how presumptuous NY can be. They have declared the NY laws apply everywhere a company sells the policy - including states that have contradictory laws. So most companies have to form subsidiaries that sell only in NY in order to shield the rest of their business from the Empire State's grasping politicians and bureaucrats.

Ken said...

Meanwhile, Mayor Bloomberg puts salt on his salt, and then rolls it in salt.

How typical that a guy who can't control his own damned self assumes that everyone else is as weak as he. Same thing happened in California: the Allegislature's chief champion of getting pop machines out of the schools was a woman who collapsed in a diabetic coma on the floor of the 'Lege while it was in session.

Anonymous said...

I have no problem with a little regulation that requires revelation of what you are eating ("wait, there's 1500 calories in my salad?"), because that enables my own decision making. However, the decision is still mine ("Does that come in a 2000 calorie size?") to make. If I'm only endangering myself and no one is forcing my hand, bugger off.

Joanna said...

I'm with Andy. My decision to eat a cheeseburger involves me, my waistline and no one else. Information about choices is one thing; artificial restrictions on those choices is quite another.

Anonymous said...

Why am I reminded of that recent biography of Mao (Mao: The Unknown Story) who imposed insane rigid behavior on the Chinese but did everything he decreed to be immoral--reading old Chinese works, dancing, drinking, singing and enjoying the company of dancing girls.

Shootin' Buddy

Tam said...

You do not understand the burdens of the Leader, comrade.

Please report to your nearest reeducation center for therapy.

Kevin said...

If manufactured food has less salt, the consumer will simply add more at the table. Wonder if Bloomberg has a stake in Morton's?

Geodkyt said...

NYC (and the surrounding areas of SE NY and north NJ) have a tendancy to decide they don't LIKE NYC (taxes, cost of living, crime, pollution, traffic, you name it), so they move here, into Virginia.

Whereupon they immeidately try and pass teh same sorts of laws that caused the mess up north in the first place.

I have two comments, that I've used for a couple of decades.

"If you 'heart' NY so damned much, why are you here?"

and

"I-95 goes in TWO directions."

Word verify -- "corsest" Th ULTIMATE in fetish/Goth wear

Fuzzy Curmudgeon said...

Sometimes I think we ought to let the terrorists win...in New York.

Would anyone miss it?

randy said...

I've had the conversation a few times where I've told folks that my (and many others) reaction to 9/11 was because they attacked Americans, not because they attacked New Yorkers.

In fact, our response was largely in spite of the fact that NYFC was attacked.

Moriarty said...

Apart from that those laughably outmoded notions of freedom and responsibility, there's another issue here.

Only some people display salt-sensitive hypertension. Literally ramming a low salt diktat down everyone's throat isn't based on sound science. Outcomes data on sodium restriction is inconclusive and the topic remains controversial.

The whole thing stinks of yet another attempt to manufacture a half-assed crisis, then (in the spirit of not letting it "go to waste") using it as a means of enacting more laws to "serve the common good."

God damn the lot of them.

Anonymous said...

"I will give you the same toast as before, but in a different form. Fill your glasses to the brim. Gentlemen, here is my toast. To the Prosperity of Manor Farm!"

Crotalus said...

Better be careful! His vessels are probably so hard that if you shoot him, your bullets will likely just ricochet! ;o)

Joseph said...

Manhattan is an ideal place for people who are incapable of noticing what's going on around them.

Anonymous said...

Nathan said: "Sometimes I think we ought to let the terrorists win...in New York.

Would anyone miss it?"

Terrorism often has the goal of instating an oppressive regime that wants to have control over every aspect of the lives of its citizens. It sounds to me like they've already won in NY.

HTRN said...

And people look at me funny when I say I miss having Ed Koch as Mayor..

Christina RN LMT said...

"Some are more equal than others."