Friday, June 23, 2006

The Fat Police

Why not just the real police

Greetings, y'all. This is Workers first posting since I moved to Brooklyn, so here is something "local". NY City Councilman Joel Rivera, chair of the Health Committee, has asked that the city restrict the number of fastfood restaurants in neighborhoods where the percentage of overweight children is above-average. First off why should the government be in the business of determining who eats what? i can understand why some would want a safety net for the starving, but is not this just the opposite? And who would determine, and how often would it be measured, and how much would it cost versus the benefits to enforce?

And mostly, because it is a measurement of children's obesity, shouldnt it be their parents who decide what they eat?!!! Last i checked children were the responsibility of their parents, not the State.

The 'police' should keep us free from harm CAUSED BY OTHERS, and should protect the commons, like keep the roads and bridges and subways open and running. And would Brooklyn pizza joints be called 'fastfood', if so, well, there goes the neighborhood.

Councilman Rivera, c'mon man don't you have better things to worry about. I hear the City is tough enough to do business in without busybody politicians. I mean, the closed-shop we call a political system has already chased away libertarian William Weld in favor of publicity-hound Eliot Spitzer for governor thus far. Laissez-faire svp.