RUSH: “A judge on Monday invalidated New York City’s plan to ban large sugary drinks from restaurants, movie theaters and other establishments, one day before the new law was to take effect. State Supreme Court Justice Milton Tingling in Manhattan ruled the new regulation was ‘arbitrary and capricious’ and declared it invalid, after the American Beverage Association and other business groups had sued the city challenging the ban.” Now, the mayor, Mayor Doomberg, got all this started. He’s not a legislator; he’s a mayor.
If he wants to make sugar a controlled substance to be able to ban the size of soft drinks, he needs to get the legislature to pass a bill to that effect, and then he needs to get the governor to sign it. The judge said he can’t just do this by executive order. Doomberg is not happy about this. But here’s a guy, Doomberg, who said, “Well, you know, people aren’t gonna control their lives right. We’re gonna have to do that for them,” and he started talking about things like “portion control” in regard to weight loss and nutrition.
Don’t you just love hearing somebody who violated New York City’s term limit law to run for mayor a third time lecturing us on portion control? When it came to the portions of terms he could serve, he was insatiable. Now, we’ve got some sound bites. I’ve just crossed up the broadcast engineer. Let’s find ’em. Let’s start number with six, seven, and eight here. We have Mayor Doomberg. This is Face the Nation yesterday, Bob Schieffer talking to Mayor Doomberg.
He said, “Let’s talk a little bit about guns. Where do you see this going and where does it need to go, Mayor?”
BLOOMBERG: The truth of the matter is, only about 400 people a year get killed with assault weapons or high-capacity magazines. That is 400 too many, and they’re all tragedies. But you compare that to, uh, handguns. Uh, pistols this year are gonna kill 12,000 Americans, aaaaand 19,000 Americans are gonna commit suicide, uh, with handguns.
RUSH: Right. So we can’t allow that. We’ve gotta stop that, and the way to do this is ban guns and buy up all the ammo. Now, late yesterday afternoon in New York City, at City Hall, the mayor held a press conference to discuss this court ruling striking down his ban on sugary drinks. He had a little back-and-forth with the CBS correspondent.
BLOOMBERG: People are dying every day. This is not a joke! This is about real lives.
SETH DOANE: You’ve expended so much personal political capital on this. Do you see this as —
BLOOMBERG: (testily) I didn’t spend political capital! I’m trying to do what’s right! I’ve gotta defend my children and you and everybody else and do what’s right to save lives. Obesity kills! There’s just no question about it.
RUSH: “And I’m gonna stop it, and I’m not gonna let you get obese! I’m gonna stop you from getting obese. It kills and it’s my job, and if I have to do it, I’m gonna do it. It’s my business whether you’re fat.” So back to Face the Nation. Bob Schieffer said, “I want to ask you about sugary drinks, because your ban on these things goes into effect next week.” This is before the judge ruled.
BLOOMBERG: This is in the country’s interests. This year, for the first time in the history of the world, more people will die from too much food than from too little food. More people will die from the effects of obesity than from starvation aaaaand, uh, we’ve gotta do and about this. This is going to bankrupt the country, our medical system cannot handle it, and all we’re doing in New York is reminding you that it’s, uhhh, not in your interests to have too many empty calories. You can have some. We’re not banning anything. It’s called portion control.
RUSH: Right. “It’s called portion control.” This is the height of arrogance here! By the way, could I see some cites for this evidence here? I’d like for him to cite for me the evidence that this “is the first time in the history of the world that more people will die from too much food than from too little food.” Could we end all hunger programs, then? Could we close all the soup kitchens? Could we start saving money and not spend it on all the people who are starving, because apparently more people are dying from too much food than too little. Where’s the evidence? You just throw this stuff out, and you don’t cite any of the data, any of the research?
You just throw it out there that more people will die from the effects of obesity than from starvation? Who says? How do we know this? And if that’s true, let’s shut down, again, all of these programs that feed people. Let’s get rid of the school lunch program. Let’s get rid of school breakfast. Let’s just get rid of it all. We’re killing people, with all these anti-hunger programs! They just grab at straws and throw this stuff out there, and people nod their heads. “Sounds good, sounds plausible. Right, sounds believable. Can’t have that! We can’t have more people dying from too much food than too little.”
“We’re not banning anything. We’re just telling you, you shouldn’t have too many empty calories.” It’s none of his business! This is not the role of a mayor. Not from a free society, because it’s not gonna stop here. We sit around and laugh about “sugary” soft drinks, but wait. Once it becomes easy and people stand aside to let this kind of stuff happen, it’s just an invitation to start controlling people’s lives even more.
I take a quick time-out. We’ll be back. Much more straight ahead, folks. Don’t go away.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: One more sound bite here just to show you how pernicious this is. This is last night on Letterman. Doomberg is the guest, and they’re talking about Doomberg’s ban on sugary drinks over 16 ounces. Listen to this.
LETTERMAN: I’ve had this argument with various people over the years, and I believe that it’s the corporate food industry, not the individual, that is at fault here. (applause)
BLOOMBERG: I think that it is incumbent on government to tell people what they’re doing to themselves and let people make their own decisions. The ban on bigger cup sizes was a way to remind you if you wanted 32 ounces, you’d have to take two cups and maybe you’d only take one.
RUSH: Stop the tape. Now, first off, Letterman says it’s the corporate food industry that’s the problem, and the audience — this is a low-information audience — applauds. That’s what’s instructive. Letterman bashes the corporate food industry and his audience applauds. And then Doomberg’s right in there, “Well, you know, we gotta tell people what they’re doing to themselves and then let people make their own decisions.” Except you’re not letting people make their own decisions. But this is how this garbage gets spread and how these low-information voters get sucked in and think they’re doing the Lord’s work by believing this garbage.
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