Posted on 06/14/2012 6:22:57 PM PDT by Free ThinkerNY
(CBS News) New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg shrugged off criticism of his controversial public health initiatives, saying that "if government's purpose isn't to improve the health and longevity of its citizens, I don't know what its purpose is."
Bloomberg most recently put forth a plan to ban the sale of sugary drinks larger than 16 ounces from the city's eateries, street carts and stadiums.
The proposal has been sharply criticized, in some cases by beverage and fast food companies as a case of government overreach.
He's also been criticized for previous efforts to, among other things, ban smoking in public places and the use of trans-fats in restaurant foods. Some have gone so far as to mock has as being like a "nanny."
But on "CBS This Morning," Bloomberg fired back, saying, "We're not here to tell anybody what to do. But we certainly have an obligation to tell them what's the best science and best medicine says is in their interest.
"If you want to smoke, I think it's pretty ridiculous, you shouldn't. But I don't think we should take away your right to smoke."
Bloomberg pointed out that life expectancy iin New York City exceeds the national average by three years, noting that all the progress has come since he took office a decade ago.
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
Spoken like a true socialist, bloomberg. If the idiots in NYC voted for this clown, they deserve the treatment they get from him.
O.K., Nanny. We're agreed: you don't know what the purpose of government is.
Beyond that, if you are dead-set on improving the health and longevity of New York's citizens, consider this: homosexuality and its associated practices reduce life expectancy by more years than do both smoking and obesity.
I'm sure you'll get right on it.
I would have to agree with Mayor Blooming Idiot that anyone living in NYC (or any other major city) voluntarily does not have the mental capacity to make serious life decisions. Those citizens will make perfect FEMA Camp inmates (or sheeple).
But that's what you're doing. Chairman Bloomberg. Life, LIBERTY and the pursuit of happiness. Look it up.
Exactly. Finally, Bloomberg admits that he doesn't know the purpose of government.
Maybe he should read the founding documents to find out. Those documents explain it better than all the blathering leftist doggerel taught in all the schools and spread in all the newsrooms across this sadly disintegrating nation.
I quote Colonel Potter: Mule-cookies!
The problem is his ban is stupid and to come even close to having a desired effect it would have to be truly draconian. Sure he can pass these stupid laws but it doesn’t make them effective or wise. Individuals can make bad decisions but in the grand scheme of things even totally modifying ones diet to a very strict regime offers no guarantees. If you don’t have the genes for longevity you probably are doomed. The numbers are not nearly as clear as some of these health Nazis like to make believe. Sure its good to maintain a healthy weight and have regular exercise but how good is life if you can’t choose to indulge its pleasures?
Also this illustrates the big danger of getting the govt more involved with providing health care because then it becomes an open ended justification to do even more of this kind of bs and soon individual liberty becomes a thing of the past.
Yes, Lazamataz is right. Bloomberg must be psychotic. He claims he doesn’t want to ban stuff, but cheerfully imposes restrictions on use and amounts of these things.
Nanny State PING!
I’m sure Hitler would agree Michael.
Just, damn.
From now on, I take another freeper's suggestion: He is Chairman Bloomberg.
Part of government’s role?
Well, Stalin certainly thought so, if that helps clarify the issues.
NYCers are betting it all the sand simians will never successfully use a nuclear weapon on their number one target. Gutting the military to give more free stuff to freeloaders isn't going to help their life expectancy.
Wow! Bloomy grabbed the shovel and started digging before he even hit the bottom of the hole!
The Psychotic Control Freak, Chairman Bloomberg, just doubled-down.
He does not give a rat's rear end. If he gets opposition, he will just ignore it. This man is just plain evil.
In the interest of public safety, and since it is a known fact that most HIV-AIDS is spread by homosexuals, and since I don’t want my health insurance to go up due to their poor choices, I think we should make homosexual sex illegal.
Why should I pay for their health care, when they could just not engage in unhealthy sexual practices? It makes as much sense as banning large sodas.
He doesn’t care one damn bit what you think. If he did, he would understand that you had the ability to decide how thirsty you are. His proposal indicates that he thinks you are to stupid to chose what to eat, how much to drink, what to inhale or what hardware products to by. If he is admitting that he thinks you are that stupid, then he is also admitting that your thoughts on the subject are irrelevant to him.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.