What does Hugo Chavez and a 16 oz. cup of soda have in common?
A couple days ago I was listening to NPR while driving to work and I heard a couple stories, almost back-to-back that had an interesting common thread. One was about the funeral of Venezualean leader Hugo Chavez; the other was about a judge's reversal of New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's ban on selling ginormous cups of carbonated soft drinks. The common element probably didn't occur to anybody at NPR, but then my brain works in peculiar ways.
(cont'd) --->
The Hugo Chavez piece spoke of his funeral, and of the reaction of the public to his death. It also mentioned how Chavez's successor, in eulogizing him, spoke about Chavez's struggle against the Evil Oligarchs in his country and against the United States, (which somehow managed to give Chavez cancer).
The piece immediately following it was about the New York State Supreme Court Judge who overrulled Mayor Bloomberg's ban on the sales of large sodas. Which wouldn't have had anything to do with Venezuala if that story hadn't been followed up with a related story about how the State of Mississippi has just passed an "Anti-Bloomberg" law, prohibiting any municipalities in the state from passing any ordinances regulating portion size.
See the parallel? Not yet?
Chavez's railing against the Evil Empire of America was somewhat endearing back when Bush was president. The U.S. Media certainly wasn't criticizing Bush, so it was nice to hear somebody doing it. I don't know why people might have expected him to quit once Bush left office. But the fact is that denouncing the United States and portraying himself as defending his country against American bullies is popular in Venezuala, so of course Chavez was going to keep doing it, even after his death.
It looks like Mississippi has the same attitude toward East Coast Elitists as Chavez had towards Yankee Imperialists. And so, like Chavez, the Mississippi Legislature is taking the opportunity to strike a heroic pose as the Defenders of Freedom against the Dreaded Liberal Nanny State.
I suppose it's petty of me to mock Mississippi considering the things my own state's governor and legislature is doing, but the list of states I can feel superior to is rapidly dwindling.