Unhappy Meals

Coming soon to a city near you-the banning of happy meals, a case of Nanny on steroids. It all starts, of course, in San Franscisco-and Reason TV captures it in all of its absurdity. San Fransisco beat out other jurisdictions that banned teens from  trick or treating and on-line poker. We're quite sure that the NY imitators will soon be on this bandwagon-with Dr. Farley Ridiculous dressed up as Ronald McDonald dispensing carrots.

Which gets us to the little tidbit that City Room posted yesterday about how NYC's Hypocrite-in-Chief apparently had a Halloween-costumed Mickey Mouse character giving out full sized candy bars to the local kids. But, in our view, that's not too egregious because the East Siders are the skinniest of all New Yorkers-and their kids could probably use a sugar boost-unlike the poor food stamp recipient fatheads who don't have a clue what's really good for them.

The posting did generate quite a bit of response from the blog's readers however. A couple in particular caught our eye-and they defended the mayor for the once-a-year candy giveaway: "Aw, come on – It’s Halloween! Even Mayor Bloomberg understands that candy isn’t bad every so often, as a special treat, only when it’s a major food group."

Perhaps he does-and we tend to agree with the sentiment. But keep in mind that, like the Mickey Mouse in Fantasia, the sorcerer's apprentice has a limited ability to stop the brooms from replicating.

It should also be mentioned for the Bloomberg defenders that the mayor's calorie posting idea was lifted whole from the fervid brain of Center for Science in the Public Interest's Michael Jacobson, a man who has advocted banning-hold on now, Halloween candy: "CSPI’s nightmare, of course, is Halloween. The group advises that instead of giving children treats, “you could always hand out low-fat granola bars—and toothbrushes.”  “Every time you reach for candy,” CSPI laments, “you’ve missed an opportunity to eat fruits, vegetables, or other foods that might reduce your risk of cancer, heart disease, stroke, and obesity.” The message: Make sure that when you’re chewing on that doughnut, you think to yourself: “I’m a bad person for eating this. I’m slowly killing myself.”

So, while we are glad that in the case of Halloween, Mike Bloomberg doesn't walk the Nanny walk, we are alert to the fact that his unhealthy interventionism is hard to stop once it gets a full head of steam. His concern for the health of NY's citizens is itself an unhealthy phenomenon-and is certainly no treat for those living in the world's largest guinea pig cage.