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The Big Burp
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The Spectator
founded 2004 by ron cruger
A place for intelligent writers
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Laramie Boyd
ecrboyd@aol.com
Don't Forget to Tip the Waiter
The Hoax Tip
Give and Take
Are the good times really over?
Enough is Enough
A Bright Line
What did you say?
The Soft Touch
Here They Stand
      Sorry New York, you can no longer be called The Big Apple! Maybe The Little Apple, but certainly The Medium-Sized Apple at most. Mayor Bloomberg of New York has proposed a ban on 16 oz. sugar drinks in all eateries in the city. This action is the Mayor's attempt at fighting obesity. And what's good for Coca-Cola is good for the sweet succulent Washington apple. Now, we are all concerned about the overweight problem in most cities in America, but I wonder if the Mayor took the time to figure out that a customer might order two 8 oz. drinks, or two fifteen oz. drinks for that matter, just for spite? I see a built in loophole in this program.
      This manipulation screams out to have some questions answered. Is this just another example of Big Brother sticking his nose where it doesn't belong? And is this all the Mayor has to do on any given work day, oversee the quantity of soft drinks poured over the counter in restaurants and taverns across the great state of New York? Should there be a restriction on the size of the bottles of Vodka and assorted spirits sold over the counters of markets? I've seen a lot of giant sized liquor containers in the carts at the checkout stand at Costco. Is it conceivable sometime in the future that there would be a limit on the number of drumsticks and wings KFC could hand out? Or how many patties of beef a Big Mac can contain? Look out Taco Bell, you may have to weigh that jumbo burrito from now on. Or, God forbid, Mary See can only sell 15 oz. boxes of truffles or nuts and chews, not the 1lb. size. It doesn't take much thought to visualize an endless list of food portions the government might limit, all masked in the name of preventing obesity, but in reality a cloak over more and harsher limits on our guaranteed freedoms.
      I say look out America. The federal government and local governments all across the nation are looking for more ways to justify their jobs, especially in these troubled economic times, and the more programs they command, which translates into a larger financial responsibility, the more control and tax money will be needed to keep the programs going. And it's our tax money. Don't most Americans want the rights of freedom of choice, not the burdens of oversight and restrictions? And it's pretty much spelled out in the Constitution of the United States just what controls the government should have. And I believe the reality of it is that the government, with its meddling into our private lives, has gone far beyond its unconditionally guaranteed rights and privileges.
The Right to Life