One Reason I Will Never Vote for Mike Bloomberg

The Posting of Calorie Counts on Chain Restaurant Menus

As detailed above, I recently paid my first visit to the new Five Guys Burgers and Fries in Park Slope, on 7th Ave. As in many burger joints and fast food restaurants, the menu was posted on a large sign over the ordering counter. However, having not been a frequenter of chain restaurants since moving to Brooklyn more than two years ago, I was unprepared for what was listed next to the rather sparse menu offerings: the number of calories in each item.

There is absolutely no need for me to know that a Five Guys Bacon Cheeseburger contains over 900 calories, or that a Large order of delicious boardwalk-style Five Guys Cajun Fries contains more than 1400 calories. If I'm stupid enough to not understand that eating at Five Guys more than once a week is unhealthy, than I'm probably too stupid to understand that 2300 calories is way too much for a single meal.

Does Mayor Mike really think that this is why he was elected to office, to police the fast food joints in the town? Is that how Rudy made his name? Is this what Bloomberg plans on running on when he fails to get elected President in four years, his war on fat? What a joke. The vast majority of the people in the city of New York are either grown-ups, or have parents who are grown-ups.

Either way, we can decide for ourselves whether or not something is unhealthy without having calorie counts forcibly displayed on menus. And why are chain restaurants the only ones subject to this? Because of the inherent evilness of all corporations? Is a meal purchased at an overpriced eatery any more healthy because the establishment isn't part of a national conglomerate? Or is this just another example of our elected officials assuming that those who eat at lower-priced chain restaurants are just too stupid to run their own lives? Any why am I asking so many questions?

Mike Bloomberg is the single most annoying elected official that I can think of. He's not necessarily a bad leader, or even a person I disagree with to a great degree, he's just ridiculously annoying. He seems to think that his job is to impose his ideals upon the city's populace. It's not. Start cutting the budget, make sure the mass transit system works, and keep crime down. That's it. And hurry up and leave office so you can start planning your failed presidential campaign.