The sad fact is that Baltimore has one of the highest violent crime rates in the country. My brother used to be a cop for Baltimore County and he often said he was glad he didn't work in the city. You could get shot buying your doughnut and coffee at the 7-Eleven. If you look at the statistics comparing Baltimore to all of Maryland, you'll understand why John didn't want that hostile work environment.
Baltimore has a safety index of 5 out of 100 meaning that 95% of U.S. cities are safer than Baltimore. You have a 1 in 55 chance of being the victim of a violent crime if you live in the city including rape and murder and 1 in 18 chance of being the victim of a property crime. There are 531 crimes per square mile. If you control for size and population, Baltimore is in the middle of other comparable places, which is a good reason to follow the biblical precept to "flee the cities."
At any rate, isn't it wonderful that the city fathers of Baltimore are so unconcerned about violent crimes and larceny that they devote scarce resources to raiding diners and restaurants to check out their trans fats. How long before they raid the homes of families with kids "for the sake of the children?" Can't you hear social services now with police backup. "Drop that peanut butter jar, Ma'am, and put your hands up. Come on, Junior, we're taking you to foster care for a celery and carrot veggie loaf. Stop crying, kid, it's for your own good!" Then to the cop, "Take Mom in and book her" for clogging her child's arteries.
Think this is just one rogue city? Go here to see legislation passed and proposed all over the country to keep you safe from the trans fat blob! At least in Virginia the bill regulating trans fats in school lunches didn't pass. Hopefully, legislators decided to let the parents deal with it!
In the meantime, if you live in Baltimore better hide the peanut butter! Arugula anyone?
The big question is whether any of the food faddishness and all the rest is well conceived. All things in moderation it said on the temple at Delphi and that was echoed by the great philosopher Aristotle.
ReplyDeleteI'm so sick of PC thugs telling me what to do, what food to eat, what car to buy, not to use gas and oil to keep my carbon footprint down (meter my breathing next), eat tofu (wait that has aluminum in it), use green power (but don't burn my leaves), ride a bicycle, jog, be a Vegan, don't eat [ fill in the blank ] because we utterly wise idiots who generally live in the hive (New York, L.A., Chicago) are wiser then well anyone. BTW margarine is worse for you than butter or was it the other way around. Don't know, don't care -- butter tastes better. My taste buds know. Drink bottled water and you know what? ... when you're finished making everyone else's life hell, you die and go there to see how the remodeling effort is going. You'll discover that you've just been gulled into being one of Screwtape's loyal collaborators. You can practice walking on burning coals then. They say if you do it right your feet don't feel a thing. Sheesh!
I like that "badge" graphic! In fact, I think I'll use it in the next post that will go up momentarily!
ReplyDeleteButter is better! So eat it and enjoy it!
ReplyDeletehttp://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2001/03/31/butter.aspx