Ravenwood - 09/27/06 06:00 AM
One of the reasons I stand up for smoker's rights is because I know that the pleasure police will not stop at banning cigarettes. And sure enough New York City health officials are gearing up for their war on fried foods. The first target is banning trans-fat oils and margarines from city restaurants. This would force restaurants to change they way they cook common everyday foods like french fries or fried chicken.
Doctors are getting to be as bad as lawyers, scientists, and researchers at spreading fear, uncertainty, and doom.
Dr. Walter Willett, chairman of the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard University School of Public Health, praised New York health officials for considering a ban, which he said could save lives.My first thought is, what gives the government the right to use the threat of lethal force to dictate how french fries are cooked? If Tom wants to sell fried chicken to Harry, why does the government get to interfere? And how big of a leap will it be for the government to start telling Harry how to cook his own food at home?"Artificial trans fats are very toxic, and they almost surely causes tens of thousands of premature deaths each year," he said. "The federal government should have done this long ago."
Category: Pleasure Police
Comments (7) top link me
My first thought is, what gives the government the right to use the threat of lethal force to dictate how french fries are cooked?
You know that in any socialist/communist state the government has to protect us from ourselves. They are smarter than us simple minded subjects who think cigarettes and fast food are good for our bodies...
Posted by: Derek at September 27, 2006 8:46 AMDid any of these wonderful doctors ever consider that trans-fats are helping kill people because the only exercise most of those people get is the very act of stuffing fries into their ever-expanding bodies? Probably not, since most doctors I've seen aren't exactly pictures of perfect health themselves.
Although I will freely admit that genetics does play a part, the main reason why, at 34 years old, I am still able to eat pretty much anything I want without getting fat is that I stay very active, work out a lot, and don't go overboard with fatty foods. Pretty simple in theory, but takes some dedication to carry out. Apparently, though, I'm just crazy for not wanting government to assume resonsibility for my health.
This is going to be a really tough fight, because although Democrats tend to be very ban-happy, Republicans seem to be on the wrong side of many bans as well.
Posted by: roger at September 27, 2006 12:43 PM"... the threat of lethal force..."
This silliness again. Oh well, you're 99% sane, Steve. Which is probably better than me.
Posted by: mikem at September 27, 2006 4:20 PMMikem, if you think that they won't use the SWAT team to serve any warrants that arise from someone defying this regulation, you are delusional.
And I'm waiting for the outcry when people find out that everyone in NYC switches from vegetable oil to lard or tallow to fry everything up. I would switch to any hamburger joint that fried its potatoes in beef tallow in a heartbeat.
Posted by: Phelps at September 27, 2006 6:40 PMYeah! Speaking truth to power, baby!
"The federal government should have done this long ago."
Except that not long ago, they thought trans-fats were healthier than the lard, tallow, and butter they replaced. IIRC, KFC was forced to switch to trans-fats by a lawsuit. If the government had acted as the nanny-ninnies desire, cooks would be required to use trans-fats. And it would take ten years to get Congress to repeal the law - if ever, because chemically transforming cheap vegetable oil into something stable enough for a restaurant fryer is a big business that can make big campaign contributions, but rendering lard just requires a big pot, a source of heat, and a high tolerance for bad smells.
This "war" on trans fats is typical of the neo-con fascist police state headed up by dictator-in-chief George W. Adolf Bush. Tyranny is tyranny is tyranny. If you support food tyranny, you support tyranny period and deserve to be enslaved in a totalitarian police state and deserve to be raped, tortured, and killed by your jailors.
Posted by: Darth Chaos at October 8, 2006 11:52 PM(c) Ravenwood and Associates, 1990 - 2014
