“In
the past they’ve outlawed plastic bags, clove cigarettes, Coke machines,
bottled-water machines, people playing stickball in the street, people playing
chess in the street, pet stores, goldfish, masked balls, and the practice of
letting your dog stick his head halfway out the window while you’re driving.
Long ago they banned toys being given away with Happy Meals at McDonald’s.
There are several states that have been under sanction by San
Francisco at various times, with city employees forbidden from traveling on
official business to Arizona, Kansas, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee,
Alabama, Kentucky, South Dakota, or my home state of Texas. (Which is fine with
me—I don’t really want any bowdlerizing Californians accidentally attending a
rodeo and deciding to file animal-cruelty charges at the United Nations.)
“It’s illegal to ride a Segway in
San Francisco, to package food with Styrofoam, to declaw a cat, or to serve
chocolate milk in schools. No one in government is allowed to make any contract
with any company that uses tropical hardwood—“Get the rugs out! The floor inspectors are
coming over!”—and no school is allowed to offer Junior ROTC because
young people who want to follow their families into military service are
probably deranged. Don’t try to walk more than eight dogs at a time—even if
they’re toy poodles and Chihuahuas—and don’t give your 5-year-old a slingshot
for his birthday, because that’s an illegal weapon.”
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.