Braggin' Rights

So New York City's Health Commissioner has dictated that New York City restaurants can't use transfats in their foods.

But that's GOOD -- they're BAD for you, you say. Well... so is sugar. Salt. White flour. Mashed potatoes. Butter.

So, in a country founded on the idea of liberty, how does something like dictating what chefs can use in their dishes .... happen?

They're called "Progressives", and they are quite proud of the name. Their vision of the world is a world where everyone has what everyone else has, life is risk-free, nobody fights, and everyone lives in a culture that ... er ... respects and embraces ... um ... everyone else's culture. (Well as long as they don't eat meat. Or they're not Christian or Jewish.)

In short, they are Totalitarian Communists. But they don't see it that way.

In their minds, this is the next logical progressive step in the evolution of humans. All we have to do is get rid of the guns, stop killing animals, and hold hands and sing kum-ba-ya around a glowing electrical simulation of a fire powered by solar power from panels that don't exist because they'd mar the natural beauty of the world and displace animal habitat.

There's a lot of moral preening going on here (in the sense of "progressive" morals) to see who is more progressive than whom. Not so different from who is holier than whom, really - though I think the comparison would be lost on most of them. Banning anything deemed "unhealthy" is at the top of the near-term agenda.

If you doubt the holier than thou argument, the City of Chicago has been working on such a ban. And they're upset that they now can't claim bragging rights for being the first city to do it.

“I’m disappointed we’re losing bragging rights to be the first city in the nation to do this,” said Edward Burke, a Chicago alderman who is pushing the ban.

And there you have it. They're proud of squelching liberty.