A Stitch in Haste

So I was exploring the links to this New York Post story on how the New York City Council might one-up the Board of Health and make the proposed trans fat ban an outright law rather than a mere administrative rule (because politicians are just so much wiser than bureaucrats), when I found this post by the blog (note the cutesy URL) of the Neighborhood Retail Alliance (whatever that may be), which "has been fighting for the rights of small businesses in New York City for the past twenty years" --

For those in the food industry who don't like the intrusiveness there is going to have to be an awakening of their consciousness on the obesity issue. They will either be part of the solution or they'll get attacked as part of the problem.

In other words: surrender or die.

So much for property rights and the notion that adults should be able to make their own decisions about what they buy, sell or eat.

The post also revisits the outrageous proposal of another hack politician to zone out fast food from lower-income neighborhoods. Because the last thing that poor people need is cheap food.

In any case, the really interesting part is the self-contradictory responses of the local restaurant industry over what are really just two manifestations of the same phenomenon and public policy. Propose a "War on Obesity" ban on (national) fast-food chains, and local restaurateurs are elated. Propose a "War on Obesity" ban on trans fat, and suddenly the locals are reaching for their torches and pitchforks to hunt down the nanny-state monster.

Sometimes you can just choke on the hypocrisy.

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And for dessert, here's the bulk of the blogroll of the Neighborhood Retail Alliance:

Wal-Mart Free NYC Blog
The Box Tank
Big Boxes Blow
Always Low Prices
Global Watch Wal-Mart
Against the Wal
Wake Up Wal-Mart
Global Watch Wal-Mart
JR Monsterfodder (anti-Wal-Mart DailyKos page)
Buy Blue
No Cleveland Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart Watch

Sense a pattern?

When will we start waging, not a War on Obesity, but a War on Absurdity?