NYC seeks to regulate fast food consumption

In another effort to eliminate any kind of personal responsibility, NYC’s counsilman Eric Gioia is putting forth a vote for an ordinance that would prevent any fast food restaurants from opening within a tenth of a mile of a school. Berkeley and Columbia, the two universities that studied the fatso affect, must have received a grant that kept them occupied so they wouldn’t draw on the walls or stick their fingers in the electrical sockets or something. Because that’s all we need — another needless study that adds fuel to their “Big Corporate America preys on dumb people” cause or something.

Also in the study, an increase of weight in pregnant women living close to McDonalds or Burger King too. Shocking! So if a fast food restaurant is only within a few blocks, I might go there more often? You don’t say?

Of course, missing from this study is the environmental and situational confounding factors. Is it not unreasonable to assume that people living within a few blocks of fast food restaurants are more likely residing on land with lower property values? In other words, these might be poorer subsets or more densely populated areas where access is increased by way of proximately to everything? I mean, when’s the last time you were in an upscale neighborhood and you just saw a McDonalds smack in the middle of luxury homes, next to a school?

The problem I see with this Nanny State regulation, is the role we, as the people, are willing to give to the government and how many rights we’re so ready to squander and poop all over. Have we lost all appreciation for our freedoms? Is this the dumbing down of America going to ultimately take away the critical and creative thinking that has spawned such innovation in this country for years?

I had the “pleasure” of seeing Mr. Gioia on some news program this evening and he said something to the effect (and I’m paraphrasing here…), “Well, if my daughter had a McDonalds within 500 feet of her school, she would be begging me to go there everyday. Government’s job is to make a parents job easier.”

What bull. How about Mr. Gioia get off his lazy ass and hone some parenting skills. The battles that are fought and won are those worth fighting for and ultimately the lessons your child will remember and benefit from the most. Parent your own kids Mr. Gioia and stop displacing your lack of parenting skills on everyone else!