The AP reports that New York City fast food restaurants have begun complying with requirements to post calories prominently on their overhead menus. Read the full article and note a few things:

– This has been difficult and expensive for small business owners, whose restaurants were included in the regulations even though they were intended for nationwide chains

– Cathy Nonas, director of the health department’s physical activity and nutrition program, might be channeling Caseworker Alice Pitney — she certainly has a title worthy of the great CAP

– A Big Mac is only 540 calories? It would take two just to make a decent dinner

– Are people really surprised to learn that a jelly donut has 270 calories? Really? What are they, ignant?

I predict, boldly, that this will not reduce obesity in New York or anywhere else. I also predict that this initiative’s lack of success will not be seen as evidence that the health officials don’t know what they’re doing. Instead of acknowledging that they were wrong, that people aren’t obese because of a lack of information about how many calories a Big Mac has, government officials will call for more regulations and programs, because, um, there’s an epidemic don’t you know, and the reason they didn’t cure obesity with this last round of regulations was that they didn’t go far enough. Their failure will be why we need to give them more control. The word addiction might come up. Comparisons to tobacco will surface.

Not such a bold prediction, I guess. We all see it coming.

Tags: Pitney patrol by Scott Stein
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Barbie’s new S&M look has whipped up a storm — with protestors dubbing it “filth.” A religious group, the Christian Voice, has been quoted as saying, “this is taking it too far. A children’s doll in sexually suggestive clothing is irresponsible — it’s filth.” [Read more →]

Tags: family & parenting, trusted media & news by Helen Cates
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Paula: The July 15 New Yorker has as its cover a satirical sketch of Barack Obama dressed in Muslim garb beside his wife in battle fatigues, rifle, and Afro hair, reminiscent of a ’60s-style Black Panther. New Yorker editor David Remnick and cartoonist Barry Blitt say their goal was to parody the way the couple is portrayed by the right wing press. But the cartoon has upset Obama supporters who feel it reinforces prejudicial views about their candidate.

 Robert: I like the New Yorker. And I don’t want to accuse them of astonishing misjudgment, but my sense is that this is an instance of astonishing misjudgment. [Read more →]

Tags: conversations with Paula and Robert, politics & government by Paula Marantz Cohen
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June 27, 2008
I dream I am at a resort during a political season. The resort centers around an enormous multi-leveled wave pool and your political affiliations move you to different areas. My political affiliation is causing my left nipple to bleed with a blue gelatin and I have to keep wiping it off. Furthermore, I keep going down the wrong waterfalls and winding up in the wrong wave pools.

[Read more →]

Tags: Fred's dreams by Fred Siegel
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George Carlin said, “If you were trying to clean up the world with a gun, you could sure do a lot worse than starting with a whole bunch of dead prosecutors.”

I’ve always thought that a whole bunch of dead criminals would be better — we could ask people living in North Philly if getting rid of prosecutors would improve their lives, but it might be hard to hear their answers over all of the gunfire. Maybe I’m unduly outraged by violent crime and its perpetrators, or I’ve seen too many episodes of Law & Order. Either way, my inclination is to want the prosecutor to win and the criminal to be locked away and decent people to be safe from brutality. This is the perspective that most people have, according to The Tyranny of Good Intentions: How Prosecutors and Law Enforcement Are Trampling the Constitution in the Name of Justice, the 2000 book by Paul Craig Roberts and Lawrence M. Stratton, which I read last week.

Though I already shared some of the authors’ views (e.g., on the reprehensible War on Drugs and the accompanying injustices of asset forfeiture), I clearly wasn’t entirely predisposed to agree that prosecutors are causing the death of the republic. And while I’m still a law and order guy (certainly when it comes to violence and property crimes), I recommend The Tyranny of Good Intentions. Predictably, as with other books with political implications, reviews on amazon.com generally reflect the ideology of each reviewer — this book is alternately condemned as a right-wing screed (oddly, since it is highly critical of law enforcement) or praised as the most important book in print. I’ll make no such judgments but will say that whatever your political viewpoint, the perspective The Tyranny of Good Intentions offers on the danger plea bargaining poses to the entire justice system is alone worth your time. It’s also valuable for illuminating just how far we’ve strayed from the Constitution and the notion of the Rights of Englishmen in the pursuit of social agendas and bureaucratic careers.

Tags: books & writing, on the law by Scott Stein
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According to the most reliable sources, the mythological Cyclops was tortured by the precise advanced knowledge of when and how it would die.

I’m no mythological creature, but I too know the precise how — if not the when — of my death. I will die by tripping over shoes my wife has left on the floor. [Read more →]

Tags: his & hers, reflections & recollections by Scott Stein by Scott Stein
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When Falls the Coliseum is looking for contributors. If you’re a writer — professional or otherwise — who can be provocative, funny, or otherwise engaging and fun to read, visit our submissions page. Our contributors are invited to write short blog posts, mini-essays, and longer, more developed pieces, on just about any topic and with any approach. A look at our key page should give you a good idea of how wide-ranging the writing opportunities are. Spread the word. Come play our little reindeer games.

Tags: announcements by Coliseum
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Stephen Dubner of Freakonomics Blog notes that “there aren’t many goods and services in this country that you can’t significantly upgrade if you have the money.”

Of course. That’s part of the American Way — the wealthy are able to afford better goods and services than are the poor. This is the type of thing that people lament when they are relatively poor, but then relish in when they have some money. In fact, it’s the whole point of dragging oneself out of poverty — to live a more comfortable life. The wealthy can have better cars, better clothes, better communities, and better schools.

Yes, better schools. Higher income areas generally have better school facilities, in an effort to provide a better educational experience to the children of the well-to-do. [Read more →]

Tags: education, politics & government by Jason Sterlace
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You’ve probably heard by now about the awful incident at Binghamton University (my alma mater), where a 6’9, 280 lb. sophomore center on the basketball team stomped on the head of a 5’9, 130 lb. senior. The smaller man now lies in near-comatose state

To make matters worse, the basketball player, Miladin Kovacevic — with the help of his parents and Serbian consulate officials — has fled to his native Serbia and is fighting extradition. Kovacevic’s mother said, “My son is not running away from justice, he’s running away from injustice,” while CNN.com also reports that, “Kovacevic’s parents said their son was threatened and disdained because of his nationality and they felt they had to rescue him.”

Injustice is afoot, but not the kind the fugitive’s mother speaks of.

The victim, Bryan Steinhauer, a Brooklyn-raised accounting major, is “unable to drink or eat on his own. “ His father says, “He has enough awareness to realize what situation he is in, especially when he sees us…He starts yelling out and crying out with a tortured look on his face. He’s starting to realize what has happened to him.”

All this over a girl who may have been pinched or groped. All this at one of America’s best state universities. All this two weeks before graduation. Injustice indeed. [Read more →]

Tags: education, on the law by Terrence Cheng
1 Comment »

I was at Lowes today with my son buying a new faucet for the bathroom when a guy tried to scam me. He was a young guy, short hair, wearing some team’s sports jersey. I don’t know why he thought I’d be an easy mark. He came close to me and my shopping cart and, in a low voice, like he had a valuable secret to share, asked if I would do him a favor. His wife was waiting outside, and they were low on gas, and he was in a hurry, so would I mind buying my stuff with this gift card he had? He showed it to me. [Read more →]

Tags: money, on the law by Scott Stein
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