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Michael Tomasky

Damn, this Bloomberg soda ban is awesome

Are bacon-cheeseburgers next? As a practical matter, no. Sodas are an easy target because there is nothing, nothing, nutritionally redeeming about them. But might there come a day when the New York City Department of Health mandates that burgers be limited to, say, four ounces? Indeed there might. And why not? Eight- and ten-ounce burgers are sick things.

We have a health crisis in this country. A country with half of its adults living in a condition of obesity is a sick country, quite literally, spending probably not billions but trillions on the associated illnesses and maladies. Under such conditions, the state has every right to take action on behalf of the common good. We once had an epidemic of traffic deaths. We didn’t ban driving. But we came up with a device that is a minor inconvenience at most. And so seatbelts became mandatory, and now the epidemic has receded. A few people still foolishly oppose seatbelts. But most of us accept them and understand that whatever little dollop of our freedom is taken away as we latch up is more than countervailed by the practical upside.

One day, if the country comes to its senses, we’ll reverse the obesity trend and, just as we now chuckle at the prevalence of smoking on Mad Men, we’ll say, “Can you believe people used to peddle this treacle in 64-ounce doses?”

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Eight- and ten-ounce burgers are sick things.

Tomasky is not a human.

drewwerd on June 2, 2012 at 8:36 PM

We once had an epidemic of traffic deaths. We didn’t ban driving. But we came up with a device that is a minor inconvenience at most. And so seatbelts became mandatory, and now the epidemic has receded. A few people still foolishly oppose seatbelts. But most of us accept them and understand that whatever little dollop of our freedom is taken away as we latch up is more than countervailed by the practical upside.

And if driving were a right, instead of a privilege, this would mean something.

Left Coast Right Mind on June 2, 2012 at 8:42 PM

Health crisis? Life expectancy up. Cancer deaths down. Incurable diseases and conditions becoming treatable all thanks to our inherited capitalism and a Constitutional Republic.

Health crisis? Only if you’re a leftist journo-hack in need of scaremongering psuedo-science.

chimney sweep on June 2, 2012 at 8:43 PM

Hey Mr. Tomasky, do you know what else would decrease obesity? Going back to the old fashioned system where you paid your doctor directly for medical services received. Having to pay for each doctor visit to monitor obesity related heart disease, high blood presure, diabetes etc. can be a big motivator.

hopeful on June 2, 2012 at 8:51 PM

Hmmm… I wonder…

google “Michael Tomasky marijuana”

Yup… getting drunk and smokin’ pot is cool… but the government should stop us from eating dem durn cheeseburgers…

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/05/25/intercepted.html

Buzzfeed expands on this considerably, listing fully 13 rules of smoking pot with Obama. I was especially struck by number four:

When you were with Barry and his pals, if you exhaled precious pakalolo (Hawaiian slang for marijuana, meaning “numbing tobacco”) instead of absorbing it fully into your lungs, you were assessed a penalty and your turn was skipped the next time the joint came around. “Wasting good bud smoke was not tolerated,” explained one member of the Choom Gang.

My friends and I had similar although rather more elaborate rules that I won’t go into. There was a point system, is all you need to know at this juncture.

I would imagine the right will hit this pretty hard after the book comes out. And, I would imagine, very few Americans will, or should, care. Of course conservatives have the advantage of a nominee who’s never smoked or drunk anything, and they’ll try to press that as an advantage, and the media may even fall for it, but meanwhile the truth will be that the vast majority of Americans, having gotten plastered and-or high when young, will silently take Obama’s side in this front of the culture war.

Skywise on June 2, 2012 at 8:51 PM

This reads like a denunciation and repudiation of Jefferson, Franklin, Madison, de Tocqueville, Churchill, and every thinker and speaker whose principles of government have made the modern West in general and America in particular so much better in every measurable and subjective aspect than their contemporary alternatives.

HitNRun on June 2, 2012 at 8:51 PM

this guy is creepy. how much he loves to take freedoms away. how much he wants to “rebalance” personal liberty. wow.

and he actually compared this to seatbelt use? i have nothing against seatbelt requirements, i think they’re good. but they’re no big deal, they are really simple and don’t hurt you (unless you adjusted them too tightly.) this soda thing is different. it’s completely inconvenient and unnecessary. this won’t reduce obesity. (at least seatbelts have actually saved lives.)

No one’s freedom is being taken away. When the rule goes into effect, probably by September, assuming the city’s board of health votes it through (it’s appointed by the mayor), New Yorkers will still be able to buy these beverages. And those who really feel that they will perish unless they have 32 ounces of Mountain Dew Code Red can simply buy two.

well then that makes the law pretty much pointless, right…

Sachiko on June 2, 2012 at 8:54 PM

uh yah liquor has no nutritional value so let’s ban it too

John the Libertarian on June 2, 2012 at 8:55 PM

Eight- and ten-ounce burgers are sick things.

A 1/2 pound burger is standard fare… You liberal dip stick.

kevinkristy on June 2, 2012 at 8:56 PM

I think we need to ban Tomasky from using a keyboard. He’s obviously posing a threat to other people by using one.

Dack Thrombosis on June 2, 2012 at 8:57 PM

We have a health crisis in this country.

I wish these totalitarians would stop trying to include me with their asinine “we”s. There is no “we” that has a health crisis and it is getting beyond infuriating to hear these mini-Stalins rattle on this way. THEY are despicable, disgusting, wastes of flesh who I would never include in any “we”, since their very existence disgusts me and the burdens they try to assign to ME to make THEM feel better about their pitiful selves have gone over the limit long ago.

They are not part of any “we” I am part of. They are they. Others. People I would not associate with and wouldn’t p!ss on if they were on fire. They are “they”, no “we”, and my health insurance and health care (which I pay for) is none of their damn business.

ThePrimordialOrderedPair on June 2, 2012 at 8:59 PM

Translation: 90-pound weakling can’t put weight on no matter how he tries.

John the Libertarian on June 2, 2012 at 9:02 PM

Forced labor camps tend to cure obesity. I bet the left is already thinking about that.

Flange on June 2, 2012 at 9:08 PM

Eight- and ten-ounce burgers are sick thingsjust about right.

Seriously, how is an eight-ounce burger a sick thing unless an eight-ounce steak is also? Both are beef.

didymus on June 2, 2012 at 9:11 PM

uh yah liquor has no nutritional value so let’s ban it too

John the Libertarian on June 2, 2012 at 8:55 PM

Speak for yourself.

lester on June 2, 2012 at 9:12 PM

Eight- and ten-ounce burgers are sick thingsjust about right.

Seriously, how is an eight-ounce burger a sick thing unless an eight-ounce steak is also? Both are beef.

didymus on June 2, 2012 at 9:11 PM

Maybe I’d understand this better if I were a member of the party of science….

didymus on June 2, 2012 at 9:13 PM

Statist freak.

CW on June 2, 2012 at 9:14 PM

Bloomberg becomes a laughing-stock now.

faraway on June 2, 2012 at 9:16 PM

Such is the learned helplessness of big government. People can’t think for themselves and assume others can’t either so there needs to be a law. This is the kind of thing a parent tells there 8 year old at a party. “You can have one cup of soda and then you have to drink milk.”

hopeful on June 2, 2012 at 9:16 PM

their

hopeful on June 2, 2012 at 9:18 PM

No wonder leftist idiots love Che so much. They want to be just like him – brutal enforcement of petty mandates, food rationing.

I’ll bet Tomasky has wet dreams about executing dissenters in front of their families. Totalitarians are all alike.

Plane ticket to North Korea, that should make him happy.

Merovign on June 2, 2012 at 9:22 PM

What a hilarious nitwit. France would regard him as a clown.

Jaibones on June 2, 2012 at 9:28 PM

The best way to get rid of obesity, is to make a fat so dangerous that it kills before the fattie reaches sexual maturity. Then natural selection kills off the problem with no need for government intervention, because, as we all know, government intervention stinks. The problem however, is that fat takes way too long to kill.

keep the change on June 2, 2012 at 9:56 PM

As a practical matter, no. Sodas are an easy target because there is nothing, nothing, nutritionally redeeming about them.

So, now, everything we consume must be deemed by somebody else to have nutritional value or we can’t have it. What the hell? No cookies or cake or candy. I remember a long time ago my wife’s uncle told me something that stuck with me. He said, “It’s not a matter of whether it’s right or wrong or good or bad. It’s a matter of who gets to decide.” So, to Tomasky and Bloomberg, you can F off. You don’t get to decide.

JohnInCA on June 2, 2012 at 10:31 PM

If this jerk needs someone like Nanny Bloomercricket to tell him how to live, imagine how much better off he would be in one of the European Nanny States.

Hell, I’ll pitch in a ten-spot for his (one-way) ticket. Who’s with me?

hillbillyjim on June 2, 2012 at 10:39 PM

I guess I would have to order (3) 4 oz burgers to make up for the burger I really want. Next thing you know they will be banning bacon on burgers.

tommer74 on June 2, 2012 at 10:59 PM

We once had an epidemic of traffic deaths.

In a normal flu season around 36,000 American’s die and it is not called an epidemic. Back in the days you are talking about an average of 56,000 American’s were killed in auto accidents. That still is not an epidemic level event. If that many were dying weekly or monthly I would buy your premise but not for yearly.

chemman on June 2, 2012 at 11:12 PM

Burgers are great. Buns are the real problem.

Capitalist Hog on June 2, 2012 at 11:21 PM

On Nov. 6 I will laugh hysterically at Michael Tomasky.

Schadenfreude on June 2, 2012 at 11:47 PM

There is literally no dumb idea liberals won’t embrace.

therightwinger on June 3, 2012 at 1:49 AM

I posted there:

Really? Seriously? Wow.

Personal freedom includes the choice to make bad choices.

I see Bloomberg wants to take people’s freedom. And that Tomasky is right there with him, wanting governmental control of parts of his life.

Coke used to contain cocaine. Does that mean we should mandate Coke include coke now, since we’re pining for the good old days as well?

Typical Libbie/Leftie/Proggie (L/L/P) approach. It Sounds Good, so it must Do Good.

Totally ignoring the Law of Unintended Consequences. As usual.

I’m just constantly amazed at how seriously immature New Yorkers are that they let this kind of thing happen AND are happy it does.

But L/L/Ps are like that. Since THEY can’t control themselves, they want the government to control things for them. And THEY can’t even imagine those of us who have our emotions under control.

Same for “Gun Control” advocates. They know they can’t be trusted to own a handgun, given their emotional control problems. And since they are Liberal, they think they are smarter than anyone. SO, if they can’t handle it, you obviously can’t handle it, contrary to any evidence to the contrary.

Gun Control. Coke Control. All end up with “Control” by the government.

Take the participant ribbons away from a L/L/P and what do you get? Someone who hasn’t grown up because they never had to.

ProfShadow on June 3, 2012 at 6:41 AM

There is literally no dumb idea liberals won’t embrace force upon others.

therightwinger on June 3, 2012 at 1:49 AM

FIFY

soundingboard on June 3, 2012 at 7:14 AM

There is literally no dumb idea liberals won’t embrace force upon others.

therightwinger on June 3, 2012 at 1:49 AM

FIFY

soundingboard on June 3, 2012 at 7:14 AM

At gunpoint.
FIFM

soundingboard on June 3, 2012 at 7:17 AM