The random political thoughts thread (Part Deux)

[SzczerbiakManiac]

NYC Bans Food Donations To The Homeless because the city can’t assess their salt, fat and fiber content.

I feel like this "solution" is worse than the problem.

[JWBear]

Mayor Bloomberg is just trying to uphold the free markets. No one should get food for free. If they can't affort to buy it, it's just their own tough luck! They should get jobs! No socialist give-aways! That;s the GOP way!

[Alex]

I would like to see the actual regulation as I suspect that the article is writing it as misleadingly broad (I suspect it is only second hand prepared foods, not "food").

I'm saying the rule is good, I just suspect it isn't quite as broad as described.

[alphabassettgrrl]

I know our local food bank takes some secondhand, prepared food, bread in particular, so there is a precedent for handling such things.

I would think something like bagels would be especially easy to track. They're not that complicated.

[Alex]

Not hard to track, but if you've also established regulations such as "City managed food kitchens must provide meals that are nutritionally balanced to meet requirements X, Y, Z" then not knowing the actual nutritional content for Neighbor Larry's Famous Clam Chowder Popsicles is an issue.

[alphabassettgrrl]

Feeding people who are homeless should be a high enough goal that a little effort is worth it. I mean, do you want to help them, or do you want to follow your guidelines and help them less? If I were homeless, I'm not going to care about the nutritional content. Food, bring it on, even if it's marginal. Beats eating out of trash cans.

[Alex]

One question would be: will anybody go hungry because of this. Is it a question of feeding people or not or just a question of what you feed them?

Again, I have no real idea if it a good rule or not. I just have a strong suspicion that the news story isn't accurately representing it.

[SzczerbiakManiac]

Copyright Math (a TED Talk)

[innerSpaceman]

I'm glad you come here to link to all the things I think of linking to, SM.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Bleh, I am not pleased to see Obama appealing to "judicial activism". It's a stupid concept and will be easily taken advantage of by conservative pundits.

This whole thing could have been avoided if he and congress had the political fortitude to pass this thing the right way in the first place. If they had implemented the individual mandate as a tax instead of a fine (i.e., vote in a new tax for which you can receive a credit by purchasing health care) there would be no case against it. Functionally equivalent, but unquestionably within Congress's power. But of course, calling it a "tax" would have guaranteed it never got passed to begin with (despite being an identical end result).