Bloomberg's Brilliant Bike-Share Program Forgot One Thing... Winter

FORMER (hurrah!) New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg's pervasive attempt to supplant NYC as a pedestrian-friendly urban city into a biker's paradise with his May 2013 Citibank-sponsored Citi-Bike Share program got a bit of a reality check with the 10-inch dump of snow Friday morning.

It appears that Nanny Bloomberg forgot that for six months of the year, it's WINTER in the city, as some 10,000 bikes sit in their holsters, lining hundreds of New York City Streets, ready to turn to rust. Oops... dummy.

The Villager reported that amid this week's wintry blanket, "While the plug wasn’t pulled on the system, for all intents and purposes, it was out of commission, with conditions unfit for riding." You think?

It appears that Bloomberg has retreated from public office just in time for successor Bill de Blasio to have to figure out what the hell to do with THOUSANDS of metal bikes sitting on public streets that are covered in snow, slush and ice, ready to rust. Here's one more Bloomie effort whose backdrop is spelled like this: I-D-I-O-C-Y.

Bloomberg Steamrolls Legislation To Make Cigs Illegal For Adults

He just couldn't leave well enough alone, could he? Outgoing NYC Mayor Mikie Bloomberg, with six weeks left in office, is having one more festive stomp on individual rights before he calls it a day on his endless 12 years of Nannying the metropolis.

This time, he is banning the sale of tobacco products to anyone under the age of 21—making New York the first municipality in these United States to prohibit sales of a 100% legal commodity to adults.

Meanwhile, Bloomberg also signed legislation today that will keep the price of tobacco sky-high by prohibiting coupons and other discounts and setting a minimum cigarette price of $10.50 per pack. Really? Tell me where you can purchase a pack of smokes for under $12 in the city? (That's why smokers have the Internet!)

Mind you, while it is technically still legal for those over the age of 18 to smoke, they cannot purchase cigs at retail—making the new law all the more asinine. So let's see: You can vote, you can be called upon to sacrifice your life amid America's ongoing wars, but smoking... Hell no! That shit'll kill you.

Mercy, mercy me, Bloomie, haven't you done enough damage in NYC: turning the city from a pedestrian-centric metropolis into one giant bike lane, your silly (failed) soda ban, mandating that high-rise buildings make stairs more accessible than elevators, calorie counts, dumbass recycling of food waste (like paper & plastic), a push toward breastfeeding... and so many other failed notions, including Prohibition 2 and prohibiting bodegas from displaying "junk food" or cigarettes. Oh, and let's remember his repulsive campaign featuring "fat in a glass."

For god's sake, is this man EVER going to stop?

So Long, Nanny Bloomberg! 'The New Yorker' LAST STRAW Cover

January 1, 2014 will be a day of celebration in New York City, as Democrat and Brooklyn resident Bill de Blasio becomes the new mayor, putting Emperor Mike Bloomberg's endless 12-year tirade of squashing individual's civil liberties at rest, at last. The New Yorker pays tribute to Nanny Bloomie with a keen cover this week titled "The Last Straw," an obvious stab at his most ridiculous waste of time in trying to outlaw 20-ounce sugar sodas. Good riddance, Mike! Sip on this!

Meanwhile, I have to admit, this New York mag cover of the de Blasio family is a little "precious" to me. Come on, yeah, I know you're a loud and proud mixed marriage dude, but those kids... the extreme (not in the least hip) afro and your daughter's constant "flowers in my hair" hippie tribute... a bit nauseating. Let's hope you take the office of Mayor more seriously than your hipster fam, dude.

Counting Down: Three Days Until Emperor Bloomberg Is OUT!

Just one more example of the many things Mike Bloomie has done to wreak havoc on the great city of New York. Thank god... hi$ three three endless terms end Tuesday! From AM NY, November 1.

Nanny State: NYC Mayor Bloomberg's Sugar Soda Ban Sails Through His Self-Appointed Dept. Of Health, Despite Massive Public Opposition

As if there were ever any doubt... The New York City Board of Health has approved a ban on the sale of sugar sodas in containers larger than 16 ounces at the city's restaurants, fast food joints, delis, arenas, movie theaters and even street food carts. The new law, which takes effect March 12, 2013, was championed by Nanny Michael Bloomberg, whose obsession as NYC's billionaire Mayor is stamping out civil rights and insuring that legislation supplants adults' rights to make their own choices.

Who cares about the city's 10% unemployment rate, folks' homes being repossessed or the fact that one in six New York state residents live in poverty... when there are fat people in the city?

The Board of Health's members are all appointed personally by the Mayor... with the vote a telling 8-0. Eliot Hoff with New Yorkers for Beverage Choices noted, "By imposing this ban, the board has shown no regard for public opinion or consequences to businesses." And once more, Bloomberg has created legislation attacking a 100% legal activity/choice. Any business that goes against the Nanny State will be fined $200.

U.S. News & World Report commented: "America has tried the experiment with prohibition before. It didn't work. That lesson seems to be lost on Bloomberg. Where will it end? The food police seem more intent on growing state authority than anything else. Depriving us of the right to make choices is the order of the day, in a sort of Orwellian fashion."

Meanwhile, a poll last week revealed 60% of New Yorkers believe the plan is crap.

This, of course, is Bloomberg's latest public policy destined to turn New York City into the land of the suppressed. Previous Nanny meddling includes: blocking sugar sodas from vending machines in schools and city-owned buildings (the NYC school chancellor vetoed that absurd referendum); a ban on smoking in city parks—uh, outdoors (which ludicrously includes Times Square); calorie counts on menus in chain restaurants, and eradication of trans-fats in city restaurants.

While the latter two are perhaps constructive, let's remember the legislation the Mayor attempted to steamroll through City Council that failed: massive tolls on the Brooklyn Bridge; his "National Salt Reduction Initiative," which attempted to mandate less sodium in restaurant receipes; and vulgar ads appearing on subways with images showing fat being poured from a soda can (they were banned by the city, along with Bloomie's call for foul visuals on cigarette packs showing amputated appendages and black lungs).

Unfortunately, there's more in store. Giddy with his latest success, Bloomie is twiddling his thumbs over the next invasion into personal privacy: He's pushing public hospitals to hide baby formula behind locked doors so that new mothers will breast feed. When will it end? Easy answer: The day this meddling bombastically egotistical man's third term comes to an end, in November 2013. I am counting the days. *

Editor's note: It's relevant to share that I have not had sugar soda in more than 25 years. This is about individual choices being legislated by a bored billionaire with too much power.

Nanny Bloomberg's Soda Ban Hearing Fosters Plenty Of Opposition

Hundreds packed a NYC Board of Health hearing Tuesday to protest Mayor Nanny Bloomberg's civil rights-stomping plan to ban sugar sodas larger than 16 oz. in movie theaters, sports arenas, food carts, restaurants and delis.

The proposal is so absurd that it has gained national attention. USA Today called it a "misguided effort to curb obesity," pointing out that the day after Bloomerg announced his latest political whim on May 31, the closet queen had no issues celebrating National Donut Day.

The July 24 public hearing gave proponents and detractors a single opportunity to express their views before the 11-member Board of Health—all of whom were personally appointed by Bloomberg—rubber stamps the legislation in September. Mind you, during the hearing, not a $ingle of the Board member$ uttered a word. God forbid they $tand up again$t their lucrative appointment by New York's emperor.

The ban, which would be the first of its kind in the United States, drew such a crowd in Long Island City that an overflow room was needed. On the one hand, Kelly Brownell, a food policy expert at Yale University, te$tfied on behalf of the Bloomberg admini$tration: "Larger portions lead to overconsumption. This is established in science."

Daniel Halloran, a member of the city council representing Queens said, "When they came for the cigarettes, I didn't say anything, I didn't smoke. When they came for the MSG, I really didn't care because I didn't order it very often. I'm not a big salt eater, so I didn't mind when you guys regulated salt. But what will the government be telling me next?"

Saying he is "ashamed" by how the city is using its money and time, Halloran insisted the city should be addressing cultural changes, including nutrition & exercise, not intruding on people’s decisions. "What is the government going to tell me next? What time to go to bed? How big my steaks should be?"

My hero, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, an opponent, offered a rare bit of comic relief during the hearing, saying he is overweight not because of soda, but too much pasta, cheesecake and red velvet cake: "If someone has the right DNA, they can drink an entire two-liter bottle of soda and not gain a pound. If I do that, I’d be twice as big as I am today."

Meanwhile, The New York Times weighs in: "It is hard to think of a better way to turn soda into a symbol for intrusive, meddlesome, government than to have a humorless billionaire poking his finger of disapproval into one’s daily life and arbitrarily saying 'your cup shall not runneth over 16 ounces.' Bloomberg might as well have replaced Lady Liberty’s torch with a Big Gulp. He is a walking advertisement for libertarianism.

Indeed, no matter how bombastic such a move craps on individual's freedom of legal choice, we all know how Bloomberg works: Two months from now, his whim will be law. And New York will again be the laughing stock of the free world. *

Nanny State: Santa Monica Bans Smoking IN YOUR OWN HOME

While smoking is already banned at beaches, parks, restaurants and near buildings in Santa Monica, Calif., the municipality's Nanny State City Council has now voted to ban a wholly legal activity: smoking in your own home!

The frightening new civil liberties-sucking ordinance says that all new tenants of apartments and condos are committing a crime by lighting up in their own living rooms...

There's an even more sinister ordinance requiring residents in their current multi-unit homes to officially designate their homes as "smoking" or "non smoking." Once declared non-smoking, the mandate can never be changed, even if you move!

As usual, "public health" is the battle cry, though what the law actually does is cater to the whims of extremists who are determined to stamp out adults' personal choices. I'm sure NYC Mayor Bloomberg is having a hissy tantrum that he didn't get such a law passed in New York first (he's trying, believe me).

"People have come to testify to city council about asthma problems, people who had no prior health problems who developed health problems because their neighbors smoke," said one official.

Let's see... so that means if I don't like the smell of bacon emanating from my downstairs neighbor, I can simply claim that it makes me ill and boom! A law is in place. I don't smell smoke... I sniff bullshit.

I can only imagine what's next as the slippery slope of making legal activities taboo continues to gain momentum. Pretty soon, I'm sure that there won't be a single food, beverage, word, body function or bad habit that is tolerated without legislation. Welcome to 1984, Big Brothers. *

Has Nanny Bloomberg Finally Come Skipping Out Of The Closet?

Judging this photo from the NYC Gov Tumblr, it appears that New York Mayor Nanny Bloomberg has at last decided to come clean and come out! He certainly appears comfortable wearing his festive rubber gloves at the QUEENS Botanical Garden, huh? Oh, tee hee hee.

Despite having two daughters and handsome female beard Diana Taylor on his arm for public events, the prissy politico billionaire has been notoriously hiding in the closet for decades. How refreshing that he's at last grown comfortable in his curmudgeonly skin! *

NYC Rally Against Nanny Bloomberg's Latest Personal Affront

Hundreds gathered near New York's City Hall on Monday to protest Nanny Bloomberg's latest attack on city dwellers' right to make personal decisions. The "Million Big Gulp March" took a bold stance against the meddlesome mayor's latest whim: to make it illegal for movie theaters, sports arenas, food carts, restaurants and delis from selling sodas and other sugary drinks in servings larger than 16 ounces.

Nanny's reasoning: Folks are fat... so, as usual, legislate. Opponents—myself included—believe the city is overstepping its authority and infringing on personal freedom. "Hands off my Bladder" read a sign hoisted by Dominic Inferrera, a singer and actor in his 30s. But City Council Member Dan Halloran, a Republican from Queens, said Bloomberg's stance on soda size is anything but funny, challenging "the principles on which our country was founded.

"This is not the way a democracy works," he said. "When do we say enough control is enough? It's a slippery slope." He cited the mayor's previous legislation linked to calories, trans fat, cigarettes and table salt. "We have more important things to do. This city has a 9.7% unemployment rate; we need to worry about getting people back to work."

Organizer Zach Huff with NYC Liberty HQ added that the rally is more than just about the soda ban, but protest against the idea that the government is dictating how people should live. "The government was instituted to protect the rights of everyone and prevent crime, and now it's cracking down the rights of everyone," Huff told CBS News. "It's astonishing we have a mayor who is pro-choice when it comes to what a woman can do with her body but isn't pro-choice with simple choices, like soda container sizes."

Bloomberg, in his typically queeny arrogant way, scoffed at the critics: "We're not taking anything away. If government's purpose isn't to improve the health and longevity of its citizens, I don't know what its purpose is." Uh, bullshit, Mr. Mayor.

A recent NY1 poll found that 53% of New Yorkers are against the ban, while only 42% agree with the proposal. Public hearings begin July 24, with a final vote scheduled on Sept. 13. If approved, regulations will go into effect on March 31. Of course, given that all voting members were per$onally appointed by Bloomberg, I think we all know how this is going to turn out.

Mind you, I haven't had sugar soda in decades, so this certainly has nothing to do with wanting to slurp down sugar. Simply, enough is enough of Bloomberg slicing away personal freedoms, one after the other after the other... *

Nanny Bloomberg Is At It Again With Sugar Soda Smackdown

Mayor Mike Bloomberg is bored again. Whenever that happens, count on another Nanny State law taking away civil rights from the residents of New York. He's obviously still pouting because his last attempt to tax sugar sodas was laughed out of the legislature.

But this time our closeted Queen Dictator is making sure he has the last laugh. On the table:

* From now on, all 20,000 restaurants that are graded by the city health Department, as well as food carts, movie theaters, sports stadiums and arenas can only sell 16-ounce sugary drinks.

* Large sugary coffee and tea confections are out unless they have 51%  milk.

* Stores that allow customers to draw their own drinks won’t be allowed to stock cups larger than 16 ounces.


So far, there are no restrictions on diet sodas or beverages with less than 25 calories per ounce. The fine for daring to go against NYC's Dictator: $200. On Thursday, he ranted,  while wringing his limp wrists, "Every public health expert across the country is wringing their hands. This is becoming a devastating public health issue and epidemic and you have to do something."

This latest infraction against freedom of choice, of course, joins Bloomie's previous attacks against trans-fats and salt—which included banning food donations to homeless shelters because you can’t measure the fat and salt content.


Council Speaker Christine Quinn, whom I am hoping will be New York's next Mayor, finds the whole ridiculous plan hard to swallow, calling it “punitive” and the wrong way to go. “Much of what the mayor’s proposed in this report are good ideas I support. That said, a ban on the size of sugared soda you can buy seems to me not empowering and not educational, but really punitive." *

Sunday Hottie Of The Day... I Just Can't Decide...

Hmmm, such a tough choice. Who's the fairest man of all? Tough decisions! *

Meddling Mayor Bloomerg Bans Food At Homeless Shelters: Too Salty

In a brand new nanny state initiative that is perhaps his most asinine yet, New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg has blocked food donations to the city's homeless—because they're not healthy enough. He's got a point: God knows it's better to starve to death than to ingest all that fat in mayo, right?

In conjunction with a mayoral task force and the Health Department, the Department of Homeless Services is mandated to oversee nutritional content of donated food. Since it's impossible to assess serving sizes, salt, fat and calorie contents, fiber minimums and condiment recommendations—shelters are turning away good Samaritans.

According to The New York Daily News, Glenn Richter has led a team of food-delivery volunteers from his Upper West Side Orthodox congregation for more than a decade. Last month, employees at a local shelter turned away food he brought from a bar mitzvah. "This level of micromanagement is stunning," he says. And as the Daily New surmises: "The Bloomberg administration is so obsessed with meddling in how we all live that it’s now eating away at the very best that New York citizens have to deliver." How dare you, Mayor Mikie. Are you ever going to leave office? *