Happy little nannystatists
Good news, everyone! Your benevolent leaders have decided that you shall be allowed to continue to eat Vegemite:
A shadow has been cast over the future of the spread as a Federal Government taskforce considers special taxes and other deterrents on the sale of fatty, sugary and salty foods…. but today Ms Gillard said Vegemite’s future on Australian grocery shelves was assured.
“I am a very happy Vegemite eater and there is no way in the world that Vegemite would be banned in this country,” Ms Gillard said.
Vegemite’s safety is assured, since it’s an iconic and popular foodstuff and is enjoyed by no less a luminary then the deputy Great Leader. However, if your tastes for unhealthy food run to something a little more obscure, you are instead invited to eat… well, this is a family website, so fill in the blank.
The taskforce’s final report, due in June, is one of the most eagerly anticipated of all the health reviews under way, the newspaper says. They propose extra taxes on “energy-dense” foods;
So far, so meh. Probably unlike most of the people reading this, I don’t really care if the government wants to incentivise eating certain foods. Even if strongly opposed to this, you have to concede that it’s philosophically miles away from banning foods, or regulating their ingredients, let’s say…
regulating fat, salt and sugar content in food and drink
Which of course, the government also proposes to do. I can’t wait for the protest against this. We can all show up to Parliament House and eat huge lumps of Roquefort cheese, followed by mudcake and double-thick cream.
Israel is Losing the Media War …. Again
Disclaimer – the ALS is not a pro-Jewish website and none of its writers are Jewish. It is firmly secular believing in the values of liberty and democracy. It is also in the main an anti-war blog.
In a carbon copy of the 2006 conflict with Hizbollah, Israel is once again losing the media war. The Hamas cheer squad of CNN, the BBC (funded by all British taxpayers), the New York Times and the Guardian is raining propoganda bombs on Israel as surely as the 6,000 Qassam rockets that have hit its southern borders from Gaza.
Despite a clear cut case of self-defence that even the Muslim countries of Egypt (‘Hamas are more interested in having the injured serve as pawns in their propaganda war on Western TV networks‘), Saudi Arabia (‘Arab states should call a spade a spade…let Hamas accept responsibility for once..‘) and the Palestinian Authority (‘we talked to them and we told them ‘please, we ask you, do not end the truce. Let the truce continue and not stop’ so that we could have avoided what happened”) accept is of Hamas’ own making, the Western media continue to hold Israel to impossibly high standards.
There are no street protests over the ongoing civilian deaths in Sri Lanka, no marches against Russia as it threatens to cut off gas supplies to Central Europe in the midst of a freezing winter, no petitions demanding ceasefires in the war-torn corners of Africa, no hysterical over-the-hill pop stars crying over the children of Afghanistan. But whenever Israel sheds blood, the world demands its pound of flesh. Read more »
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