TGIS: Thank God It's Schadenfreude! (238)

This week's joy in the misfortune of others comes courtesy of Hit & Run (from Thursday, September 24; link good at time of posting):

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has a salty tooth. According to The New York Times, Bloomberg liberally salts his pizza, throws so much salt on his morning bagel that "it's like a pretzel," and "likes his popcorn so salty that it burns others' lips." In a sane world, no one would care about such trivia. But in a world where paternalistic busybodies like Bloomberg tell people how to live their lives and do not hesitate to use force (in the form of smoking bans, cigarette taxes, and trans fat prohibition, for example) when scolding fails, the mayor's eating habits are newsworthy. The Times rightly perceives a contradiction between the mayor's salty diet and his administration's campaign against salt, which has included "asking restaurants and food manufacturers to voluntarily cut the salt in their dishes by 20 percent or more, and encouraging diners to 'shake the habit' by asking waiters for food without added salt."

The Times also suggests there's a tension between the city's rule requiring the prominent posting of calorie counts on restaurant menu boards and the mayor's fondness for hot dogs, fried chicken, cheeseburgers, and "burnt bacon and peanut butter sandwiches." The mayor's aides emphasize that he makes up for his overindulgences by cutting back the next day and manages to keep a trim figure

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