As IF Times

link  Right-wing U.S. firebrand Ann Coulter will file grievance with rights panel.

Ann Coulter: you either love her or you’re a liberal.  While there is no doubt that she views things from a conservative perspective, it’s interesting that the article is already imposing a bias to the reader by labelling her a “right-wing” firebrand.  Oddly, you will seldom see the label “left wing” firebrand to such pundits as Rachel Maddow or Bill Maher.  You will never hear the adjective “inflammatory” applied to them either.

Canadians are smugly proud of their image of being a fair and compassionate people.  That’s all fine, but in reality, are we?  It’s a bit like the girl holding a mirror who has to tell people how pretty she is  and people are too polite to disagree.  Years ago, a sitting Prime Minister was fond of referring to “da Canadian values”, whatever they were.  The implication of course is that if you don’t hold such “values”, you weren’t Canadian or at least not a good one.  How could you fight that if you were in opposition to a particular policy?

While the words “true north strong and FREE ” are inscribed in our national anthem, the words ring hollow.  In fact, maybe we should change it to “the true north strong and politically correct” except that finding a rhyme for the next line would be iffy.  Zealots like this Francois Houle have appointed themselves as gatekeepers for what a free and intelligent populace should be allowed to hear.  Certainly, he is not alone as many like him have been trying to muzzle opinions that don’t happen to align with their own version of what’s acceptable.  Years ago, a provincial human rights commission launched a case against “inflammatory” comments by Ezra Levant and Mark Steyn, which thankfully was unsuccessful.  Meanwhile, truckloads of money were spent by the defendants to fight for their rights of free speech.  The lesson is, don’t veer too far off the PC path or risk paying college tuition for the kids of lawyers.

Here’s the bottom line, if we only tolerate opinions that match our own, then it is not a free country, it’s a cult.  Maybe we should put the mirror down and look at ourselves as we really are.

link NYC Asks Food Manufacturers To Cut Salt Content – wcbstv.com

It’s getting tougher and tougher to keep on the right side of the modern politically correct, nanny culture that we’ve all embraced. It was bad enough that scientists have disparaged all manner and type of enjoyment, confection and amusement because of perceived detrimental effects. I guess you could argue that to demonize smokers was a good thing, since the idea of inhaling fumes that had just been in someone else’s lungs is pretty icky. Not to mention that smokers in general tend to be a slovenly lot, casting their spent butt ends all over the place. Is there anything more disgusting than looking at cigarette butts crushed into the remnants of a dish at the end of a meal?

But over the years, if you’ve avoided all the things that the authorities have claimed are bad for you, it’s possible you would not be alive, having died of malnutrition. Over the past few decades, the list of tsk tsk items have included:

eggs, coffee, milk, white bread, red meats, cheese, fish, shellfish, butter, ice cream, potato chips, cookies, candy, donuts, fried chicken, french fries and “fast food” in general. Hmm this looks like my weekly shopping list.

Oddly, many modern diets have espoused the virtues of eggs and red meats for their high protein benefits and coffee has seen a resurgence as a beneficial food as well as fish and of course the fast food at Subway. Just ask Jared. Strangely, margarine at one time was touted as preferable to butter, now we’ve swung back the other way. You seldom see any cooking shows or recipes calling for margarine in their mix.

Where it gets a little dicey are the arcane constituents of foods. For instance, fats per se aren’t bad for you, only certain trans and mono fats whatever those are. Maybe it’s no coincidence that Emeril Lagasse does not have a show on the Food Network anymore. I recall he never met a fat he didn’t like.

So now, the guardians of our well being (at least in NY) are pushing to move SALT from our diets. Apparently, we ingest far too much salt in forms we don’t even realize and this leads us towards the health out of bounds markers. So pressing is this crisis that they will eventually make it illegal for restaurants and food companies to exceed certain salt levels in their products. In other words, save us from ourselves, like it or not.

Boy, this is going to spur some changes in our society. Like smokers, willful salt ingesters will have to huddle in doorways outside of buildings sprinkling salt on their meals. There of course will be new camaraderies as people share shakers like lighters. Of course, people will try to quit, but can’t, therefore salt patches will be available for those who are weak. Naturally, there will be large letter warnings on salt packages and minors will not be able to obtain them.

There may be the emergence of underground restaurants where they freely use salt and other seasonings, like the speakeasies of old where you have to whisper, “Charlie sent me” through a sliding slot in a door to get in. The companies that make shakers will be severely squeezed since now only pepper shakers are acceptable on dining tables. With the passage of time and the acceptance of salt as socially evil, even common speech aphorisms will have to be modified. Someone is now the “oregano of the earth”, or we will consider someones opinions with ” a grain of nutmeg”. I’m sure it’ll sound better in 10 years.