Saturday, November 13, 2010

Happier times for Happy Meals?

Here's a setback for San Francisco Moonbats, who have been preparing a sort of legislative Happy Meal. It includes, as you may have heard, a food item:
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom has vetoed a ban on sales of McDonald's Happy Meals with children's toys as too intrusive.

"Parents, not politicians, should decide what their children eat, especially when it comes to spending their own money," Newsom said Friday in announcing the veto.

The city's board of supervisors passed the legislation forbidding giveaways of toys with kids meals unless they met strict dietary criteria. McDonald's Happy Meals, seen as the target of the ban, do not meet the board's criteria.

The board could still override the mayor's veto. [...]
So for right now, the news is good for fans of non-metaphorical Happy Meals, but the Moonbats may still get the burger part of their legislative Happy Meal, which also features a toy: a limitation of medical and religious freedom and assertion of state prerogatives as true parental-unit:
It's the latest controversial initiative, coming from the city that's tried to ban everything from happy meal toys, to plastic grocery bags. Now one resident is working to ban circumcision and it’s stirring up controversy across the state.

“It's definitely a personal choice issue. The government doesn't have any right to be involved,” said Cathy Pope, a Merced resident.

"On a personal level, if I had a baby boy I would not be doing it. But if it's part of their religion and their tradition, then so be it, if they want to do it. Again, it's a parent's choice," said Armando Arredondo, the father of a nine-month-old girl.

But the author of the initiative, San Francisco resident Lloyd Schofield sees it differently. "His body doesn't belong to his culture, his government, his religion or even his parents," said Schofield.

The initiative would make it a misdemeanor to circumcise, excise, cut or mutilate the genitals of a minor under 18, punishable with a fine of up to $1,000 or up to one year in jail. More than seven thousand signatures are needed for the initiative to make it onto San Francisco's ballot next November. As for parents who circumcise their boys for religious reasons, the author says they would have to follow the law as well.
It almost certainly won't pass, but how would it work? I guess families and well-wishers would go out of the San Francisco city limits to have the bris and the ensuing Seudas Mitzvah/Happy Meal. Anyway, I'm sure they will have interesting things to talk about at the next Friday-night Happy Meal at the Shul of the Grateful Yid. (h/t: memeorandum)

Crossposted on Soccer Dad

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