Gavin Nanny-some Wants You Growing Lettuce On The Median
And grazing on wheatgrass growing up between the cracks on Van Ness. (If you prefer yours light on urine, try not to munch too close to Geary.)
Please, please, please, California, don't elect Gavin Newsom governor. San Francisco mayor Newsom wants to control the way SF eats. Heather Knight writes for the SF Chron:
Newsom on Wednesday issued an executive directive he hopes will dramatically change how San Franciscans eat.All city departments have six months to conduct an audit of unused land - including empty lots, rooftops, windowsills and median strips - that could be turned into community gardens or farms that could benefit residents, either by working at them or purchasing the fresh produce. Food vendors that contract with the city must offer healthy and sustainable food. All vending machines on city property must also offer healthy options, and farmers' markets must begin accepting food stamps, although some already do.
The mayor will send an ordinance to the Board of Supervisors within two months mandating that all food served in city jails, hospitals, homeless shelters and community centers be healthy.
And effective immediately, no more runs to the doughnut shop before meetings and conferences held by city workers. Instead, city employees must use guidelines created by the Health Department when ordering food for meetings.
Examples include cutting bagels into halves or quarters so people can take smaller portions and serving vegetables instead of potato chips.
"We have an eating and drinking problem in the United States of America," Newsom said Wednesday. "It's impacting our health, and it's impacting our economy."
Was Newsom elected mayor or crowned king? Best of all, here he is telling everybody what to eat, yet like so many people, he hasn't a clue as to what actually is healthy. According to evidence (see below), those who want to take off the pounds should cut out carbohydrates like bagels, no matter how small Nanny Newsom makes city workers dice them, and breakfast on a cheese omelet and two strips of bacon instead.
Why must vending machines "offer healthy options"? And, shockingly, although I eat very few carbs these days, I sometimes like a candy bar. Am I a dietary criminal -- or an occasional chocolate consumer? And who says what's healthy? The medical establishment, which has been directing people's diets based on "science" instead of science for decades? But, don't just take it from me. This e-mail arrived on Sunday:
I usually don't have either the time or the brain power to read all the books you recommend through your blog. I did check out Gary Taubes' "Good Calories, Bad Calories", and am stunned by the bad science that has dictated dietary policy and medical procedures for my lifetime. I am making changes to my diet and dietary habits accordingly.Please keep up the excellent writing and always challenge your readers to think and behave honestly.
Andy from Los Angeles
And, back to Nanny-some's bloodless coup of San Francisco's stomachs, how dare he tell farmers or those who sell at farmers' markets what form of payment they must take? I go to a café that, until recently, was cash only. Should the government be able to tell them they have to take Discover and American Express?
via reason
Between the sex scandal and the "like it or not" thing, I suspect it can't happen.
Crid [CommentCrid@gmail.com] at July 10, 2009 12:52 AM
and I suppose all these changes and regulations are going to be free, right? guess he didn't get the memo on the fiscal crisis. You wanna save money? You stop feeding city workers at meetings altogether. Why do they need food for a meeting? They can bring their own. You wanna save money? You stop coming up with stupid stuff, and either DON'T spend money or figure out ways to save it.
earth to Gavin: worrying about what the patient is eating means nothing if they are flatlining.
SwissArmyD at July 10, 2009 1:16 AM
Who the fuck is going to eat vegtables soaking up smog all day while growing in the medians and on the side of highways?
Can I have the disgusing brown letuce that was planted right near the intersection that hold thousands of idling cars for minutes at a time?
I agree with SwissAmryD, cut the food budget entirely and make people bring their own food.
lujlp at July 10, 2009 1:31 AM
>> Who the fuck is going to eat vegtables soaking up smog all day while growing in the medians and on the side of highways?
Lujip beat me to it.
I also want to thank you for recommending _Good Calories, Bad Calories_. It has literally changed my life, as I've been on a very low carb diet for almost a month, and it's not even a diet book! I've lost a fair amount of weight and feel better.
AlamedaMike at July 10, 2009 2:34 AM
People in government don't know that they are only supposed to involve themselves in the lives of citizens if there is an emergency or dire situation.
Whenever they (government) interfere it is almost always detrimental in the long run.
David M. at July 10, 2009 6:44 AM
I think farmers that get subsidies should have to take food stamps. Of course, no subsidies would be better. But poor people do eat crappily, and helping that a little could be worthwhile. Other than that, I like my junk food and am perfectly capable of deciding when and how I eat it, thanks.
momof4 at July 10, 2009 6:50 AM
I was on Market Street yesterday. The smell that hangs over the city makes eating anything questionable.
mbruce at July 10, 2009 7:16 AM
He's another in a long line of loathsome autocrats. Bloomberg is probably a bigger nanny, but he won't try to screw your wife. Why does anyone put up with these scolds?
We have an apathy problem in this country. Too many people put up with incompetents meddling in their lives.
MarkD at July 10, 2009 7:53 AM
No, MarkD, we have a zealotry problem. If the zealots would just see the light and become to apathetes, those of us who are already apathetic could go about our business in peace.
Axman at July 10, 2009 8:20 AM
I loved living in The City until I just had to get out.
Every night the army of homeless create a river of urine that perfumes the town. Every day a mass of grubby-fingered lawyers and bankers ignore the smell as they desperately try to daub themselves with a little Eau De Hipster, borrowed from the artists who have departed for more affordable climes. In THEIR stead is a viciously arrogant group of X'd-out Gen Y club kids with crappy haircuts.
It used to be a cool place. Now it's just desperate, although still pretty good looking.
San Francisco, America's cougar, does not subsist on government-raised lettuce.
Gog_Magog_Carpet_Reclaimers at July 10, 2009 8:36 AM
At some point, California will be so bankrupt and the proverbial political pendulum will have swung so far Left that voters will swing it far, far to the Right in terms of Fiscal Conservativism. Not only will they elect such a governor, but will elect politicians at all levels of this ilk.
If Gavin Newsom is even being remotely considered for governor then clearly things have not gotten bad enough yet. Don't worry, he'll make them worse, much worse.
Robert W. (Vancouver) at July 10, 2009 8:43 AM
So, what should we expect from Mr. "Whether you LIKE it or NOT!"
Jay R at July 10, 2009 1:36 PM
Having dined at his restaurant, PlumpJack, I really wouldn't mind Newsome dictating my diet. Of course the $58 bottles of PlumpJack reserve put quite a hit on my EBT card .
"Who the fuck is going to eat vegtables soaking up smog all day while growing in the medians and on the side of highways?"
Actually, SF is a locavore hotspot. Plus community gardens provide more than food. I am a yardener more than a gardener so I used to enjoy just sitting on the bench in the garden behind my old house. Capitalize on other people's labor.
smurfy at July 10, 2009 1:57 PM
That should have been the community garden behind my old house. But if you are allergic to hippies, they can be quite a nuisance.
smurfy at July 10, 2009 2:01 PM
Ok Smurfy, FINE, follow my rant with a reminder of just how damned good the dining is there.
And the evening views of the city lights and the bridges. And the hills. And the homes.
I still maintain San Francisco is a cruel, heartless bitch who stole the best years of my life. God, I miss her!
Gog_Magog_Carpet_Reclaimers at July 10, 2009 3:03 PM
> At some point, California
> will be so bankrupt
Robert, are you from the United States?
Crid [CommentCrid@gmail.com] at July 10, 2009 6:20 PM
> Robert, are you from the United States?
If the "(Vancouver)" in his signature doesn't give it away, clicking through to his blog may well clarify this...
Snoopy at July 10, 2009 6:35 PM
> If the "(Vancouver)" in his
> signature doesn't give it away
Nope. Not good enough. I want him to say it out loud. It's like he was walking into his neighbor's house during a family quarrel and siding with Brittany about the dispensation of between-meal snacks. If someone's going to speak to local events with such intimacy, I want him to be explicitly clear about whether or not he has skin in the game... Every time, without exception.
Don't you think his rhetorical opponents would want him and expect him to do this? Isn't that the manly way of telling foreigners how their country should be run?
See also "Martin", here.
(For the record, I think these guys are kinda pathetic... No matter how close their study of our politics, no matter how well-intended their proscriptions, no matter how righteous their advice.
Boyfriends. Puh-leeeze... You make Canada look like an exceedingly dull and lonely place.)
Crid [CommentCrid@gmail.com] at July 10, 2009 6:47 PM
PS- America gave the world the internet. TCP/IP is nowhere described as a basic human right. Man on the moon, too... Probably before you were born. Nyah-nyah.
Crid [CommentCrid@gmail.com] at July 10, 2009 6:56 PM
Newsome is a huge douche. But a lot of ideas for building SF up Instead of out make sense to me. This bit is foolishness though. And I would never want him as governor. Though who would want it? This state is ungovernable.
Cheezburg at July 10, 2009 8:00 PM
Don't you ever feel the least bit embarrassed about acting like a 5 year old throwing a tantrum because he doesn't want to share his toys, instead of like a 50 year old man?
This isn't your house. It's Amy's house. She's got a boyfriend, and she lives in another country, but she laid out a big welcome mat for me to come by anytime & engage her mind on anything, ANYTHING under the sun, whether it's baboon rape or American politics. So that's what I'll do. It doesn't bother me that she has a pompous asshole with a chip on his shoulder living next door to her.
Dull? You betcha! For the past several years at least, Harper & co have been providing exceedingly dull & boring, but reasonably competent government. That's just the way I like it. Another reason I choose to live up here is that I'm a nuclear engineer by training. There's a lot of excited talk about a "nuclear renaissance" down south, but the current administration is having a hard time mustering up much enthusiasm about it. In the meantime, Ontario will keep on getting over half its energy from homegrown nukes till after I'm dead, so here's where I'll stay.
BTW, for a country with a population of hardly 20 million at the time, Canada made a contribution or 2 to that man on the moon business:
http://spaceistheplace.ca/apollo.html
Martin at July 10, 2009 8:29 PM
> This isn't your house. It's
> Amy's house.
Kitten, it's my nation. The issue isn't the blog, the issue is your pretense... There are probably blogs where you can dress up and pretend to be a naughty French maid in a short little skirt, and you'd be embarrased if someone called you out on those websites, too.
> dull & boring, but reasonably
> competent government.
When a neighbor covers your national defense and a few other issues (relief valve for nationalized health care, etc.), the stakes are lower.
> so here's where I'll stay.
Why move when the computer provides the vicarious thrill of living in a fully grownup country? Some people think the internet's best fantasies are sexually pornographic... but you know better.
> Canada made a contribution or 2
You spelled that like Prince in Minneapolis... Must be a climate thing. I didn't follow your link... Is that about the arm on our shuttle? (It says "Canada" on it! With a darling little maple leaf logo! It's adorable.)
I comment here all the time and Amy's a doll, but truth be told, there's an Edmonton blog I love almost as much, and visit with similar regularity. Know how many comments I leave about Canadian politics on there, without letting people know that I'm from the States? Not a-goddamn one. Zilch-a-mundo.
It's a dignity thing.
Crid [CommentCrid@gmail.com] at July 10, 2009 10:03 PM
But I go apeshit for those bait cars! Keep 'em coming!
Crid [CommentCrid@gmail.com] at July 10, 2009 10:05 PM
Point taken, Crid. I announced myself as a Canadian when I began commenting on this blog, so if that doesn't satisfy, I'll be glad to make it more explicit.
Martin Beranek (Canuck) at July 10, 2009 10:32 PM
"whether it's baboon rape or American politics"
Sure, a cynic might smirk and ask "There's a difference?". I prefer to point out that baboons don't provide a balloon drop at the culmination of the event.
Gog_Magog_Carpet_Reclaimers at July 11, 2009 11:24 AM
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