Linking them at Ace of Spades might have had a little to do with it. Heh.
Update: Well, that was fun while it lasted. Had a nice run, now dropping faster than a Zoloft to the bottom of a plastic cup of warm Val-U-Rite vodka. If you don’t get that — don’t ask, it’s not worth it.
550,000 blogs on WordPress and comment spam is killing my fun for the day.
Oh well, I learned the power of the Ace juju and that Wickedpinto is worth at least 200 hits per post.
That last part kind of scares me.
Update to the update: That last bit of link whoring above just might push me back to the top. I hope that I have the odd luck it will take to visit the WordPress page during the few seconds that I make it to number one.
NSFW! Language and content warning, this is definitely not for the kiddies.
It’s funny as hell, but may offend some (almost everyone). So, consider yourself warned, part three is pretty bad. If you make it that far — it really doesn’t matter at that point.
When the letter came from City Hall threatening punishment if he continued to serve foie gras at his North Side restaurant, Doug Sohn framed the warning and set it beside his cash register.
In another example of government run amok, the Chicago City Council outlawed the sale of foie gras in restaurants and stores in the city.
So, how has that been received in Chicago?
Almost four months after an ordinance went into effect that forbids serving the rich delicacy, many chefs and restauranteurs are shrugging, if not thumbing their noses, at a law that has led to charges of an overly invasive City Council.
Several restaurants are so brazen, they list foie gras on their online menus.
At least one elected official has some sense:
Mayor Richard Daley is no fan of the ban–just this week, he called it “the silliest law” the City Council has ever passed.
Life after the ban:
As he did before the ban, David Richards, owner of Sweets & Savories, has two foie gras dishes on the menu, which are two of his most expensive: a Kobe beef burger topped with foie gras pate and seared foie gras accompanied by pumpkin flan.
“We look at it as a choice,” he said. “We live in a free-market society and if people are truly offended they won’t buy it. If they don’t buy it, I won’t buy it.”
Instead, he said, his foie gras sales have climbed, making him even less inclined to heed the law. But just in case, he has talked with a couple of attorneys who double as loyal customers that told him they are ready to fight any citation on his behalf.
New York bans trans fat and Chicago finds duck and goose livers dangerous enough to outlaw?
It’s good to hear that the Chicago Department of Health is not wasting it’s resources tracking down dangerous duck liver panderers while they are hard pressed to just keep up with more important issues. But, how does a law like this even make it past early ridicule?
This is Moral Authority run wild. I can almost understand the trans fat law in New York, trans fat has no real redeeming value. But, wasting time and city resources passing a law to protect us from the sweet, wonderful, smooth taste of foie gras because a tiny portion of society objects to the way the geese and ducks were fed is rediculous.
I know what I’m going to order the next time I’m back home in Chicago. Mmmmm.
Michael Totten snuck out of the country and into Lebanon for three weeks– at least as far as we know as of today. He last did this when he went to the Kurdish area of Northern Iraq — The Kurds Go Their Own Way.
Michael has spent plenty of time in Lebanon in the past, having lived their previously. I’m sure that with everything that has happened there in the last six months he was aching to find out how the country was doing since he’d been there last. He was more recently in Israel just across the border from Hezbollah controlled Southern Lebanon during the latest conflict.
Be sure to visit Michael Totten’s blog over the next few weeks to read about his travels. Michael is one of the best writers on the web and tells his story with an unbiased voice. He provides a much needed perspective into the goings on of the real Middle East from a westerner’s point of view. If you spend an hour reading Michael you will know several times more about the events of Lebanon, Israel, Iraq and Syria than you did previously.
Michael, glad you are back safe and can’t wait for the next report.
