Oh, groan..........

Cross Chicago off the list of Places Where I Want To Live. Seems a city councilman is urging the city council there to pass an ordinance banning restaurants from the use of oils containing trans-fats (or trans fats.....) In April, this council voted to ban foie gras in the city's restaurants!

Good god. Am I still living in the United States????? For god's sake. Have we lost all sense of personal responsibility? Have we decided to become a Big Brother society? Yeah, yeah. Okay, that's a simplistic view. But for fuck's sake (yes, this is MY blog and I can use whatever words I want because last time I checked I still live in a nation that places a premium on free speech), let's get a GRIP. We do NOT need city councils deciding what businesses can and cannot do. Or, for that matter, what kind of food private citizens should or should not eat. Or restaurateurs should serve.

My own town -- Ames, Iowa -- is just as bad. Several years ago, the city council voted to ban smoking in restaurants. Never even TRIED to negotiate with owners to install proper ventilation. This turned out to be a true slippery slope: not long after that, the same council voted to ban upholstered furniture on front porches. Yes, I live in Little Nazi-ville.

If the Chicago city council (or this jackass city councilman in particular) wants to do something about good health, then they should ask Oprah to sponsor a marathon. Have Oprah sponsor a "town meeting" on healthy eating. Spend some dough on having good-food types talk at public schools. Whatever.

But for fuck's sake, let go of the "let's monitor every goddamn aspect of people's lives, including what sorts of cooking oil restaurants use." Because otherwise it's the same thing as saying "HEY! I know what's best for all of you, and by god, I'm going to pass laws deciding what you can and can't eat.

Because frankly, I think you're too fucking stupid to make your own decisions. And besides that, I hate democracy and love tyranny." And I'm here to tell you that that kind of thinking scares the fucking shit out of me. If I wanted to live in tyranny, I'dve long since emigrated to Iraq.