Thread: The Nanny State

Originally Posted by earcutter

Soylent Green – a tasteless, life sustaining, vitamin enriched method of feeding the masses! Mostly derived from humans who no longer have any place on this earth..

Soylent Green (1973) - IMDb

So, I'm a tasteless yet life-sustaining morsel capable of feeding the masses, or I no longer have any "place on this earth"...don't quite know how to take that.

Originally Posted by mapleleafalumnus

??????????????

Google Andy Warhol ..... "We'll all have 15 minutes of fame" ...... unless you know what I'm talking about.

Personally I have waited my whole life to become a burden on my family and the rest of society. I don't want to leave before they have all had more than enough of me and by then I hope I become soylent green and give them all salmonella.....just saying.

Originally Posted by Crotalus

What do you think about the new regulations the Mayor of New York is handing down? Do you think the people that voted him in knew what he was going to do?

Limit salt in public restaurant's food?

Limit the size of soft drinks?

Crack down on smoking?

Now he is keeping the hospitals from handing out baby formula until the mother is given a lecture on breast feeding. They have to do this each time she asks for some.

Where will it stop?

I think Bloomberg is the best example of a local politico drunk on his own power, spinning out of control, and setting himself up for a presidential bid four years down the road. He's going to keep regulating whatever he can get his grubby little hands on, treating the general population of "his" city like a bunch of idiots that aren't capable of thinking for themselves, and who need his neo-patrician ass to provide them with wisdom and guidance in every aspect of their lives.

• His administration has stopped restaurants making food donations to the homeless, because, I quote, "the city cannot assess the fat, salt and fiber content of the donations"...
• He has taxed cigarettes to the point where a pack now costs $12 - prices for the cigars that he and his buddies enjoy smoking from time to time have remained remarkably stable over the years. Sherman's, a tobacconist on 42nd and 5th, is still one of the best places in the US to buy fine cigars.
• He has outlawed beer drinking in Central Park, because some Puerto Ricans got a little out of hand during one of their fiestas a few years back. Of course, drinking wine and eating artisanal cheeses at summer open air concerts is still perfectly legal...
• Besides Chicago and the State of Illinois, New York City has the most severe firearms regs in the nation. NY State may still issue concealed carry permits to qualified citizens, but they are not valid in NYC, nor are those from any other state. Getting caught carrying a gun in New York without a specific city permit means a minimum sentence of 3 1/2 years jail time. NY Port Authority Police regularly ignores federal regulations regarding the interstate transport of firearms. If you make the mistake of flying into New York, even in transit to another state, with a firearm declared and checked in your luggage, you may be detained, arrested and/or have your weapon impounded.
• Meanwhile, wealthy Mr. Bloomberg and his buddies of course enjoy round the clock protection of their persons and property courtesy of the heavily armed NYPD, and private security companies that are often managed by former members of the NYPD. Matter of fact, NYPD seems like somewhat of a private army at times...
• 40,000 members strong, NYPD last year conducted a total of 687,000+ "stop and frisk" searches. In 42% of these, subjects were young blacks between the ages of 14 and 24, 35% were Latino and 9% were white. Blacks and Latinos constitute 52% of the city population, but 87% of the "stop and frisk" searches. BTW, 90% of those searches turned up absolutely nothing. So, Bloomberg talks "love, peace and no (civilian!) guns on the street" on the one hand, on the other, his trigger- and slap-happy NYPD thugs are systematically harassing black and brown people all around town.

All this control and regulation on one hand, on the other hand a decaying infrastructure, less and less affordable middle-class housing and a completely failed school system and education policy. The latter bothers me the most, I really feel for poor and middle-class kids growing up in that shithole of a city. Rather than trying to regulate everything out of existence, it might behoove NYC in the long term to spend some more money to improve their local education system and help young people get the training and information they need, teach them how to make wise decisions for themselves. But no, let's have another millionaire fundraiser for the Met or the Guggenheim instead...

Sorry for the rant. I partly grew up in New York, not as a millionaire kid, but more privileged than many others, at a private school in a good part of Manhattan. I still visited regularly until about five years ago, but the old girl just ain't what she used to be :-{

Originally Posted by mapleleafalumnus

Jimmy, I'm at a bit of a loss...what is "Soylent Green"?

I envy you not being old enough to remember the movie. You might say it was food for thought back then.

Bob

BobH --
I'm in my early 50s. I just never saw the movie. I never saw The French Connection either.

Originally Posted by mapleleafalumnus

BobH --
I'm in my early 50s. I just never saw the movie. I never saw The French Connection either.

WHAT??? I want your man card lol.

Originally Posted by earcutter

WHAT??? I want your man card lol.

I'll give you my old jock instead. Never washed.
Just kidding, bro!

Originally Posted by earcutter

Soylent Green – a tasteless, life sustaining, vitamin enriched method of feeding the masses! Mostly derived from humans who no longer have any place on this earth..

Soylent Green (1973) - IMDb

Soylent Green....is....people....!!!

Next it will be the Logan's Run comments/thread...

Originally Posted by earcutter

A cup that holds a double eh battery doesn't hold any practical appeal to me But thanks man!!

There you go focusing on size again. Let's not hijack this thread anymore.