What I’m wondering is whether these chains and the market largely ignore this Nanny State nonsense. In the absence of legislation, if Michelle Obama is going to appear in my restaurant personally or applaud my efforts from the bully pulpit to offer “healthier” options to customers, I’m going to take advantage of the free publicity. It’s all about the market, and I’m more willing to bet that Olive Garden and McDonald’s have figured out how to game Michelle’s moral preening and turn it into a profit and a larger market share in PC lefty communities. This is pure speculation, but that may actually be the entire reason for their cooperation: giving leftists some cover to come spend their money. More speculation: Michelle’s efforts haven’t had an impact at all on Burger King’s sales (especially during an economic downturn) except to incentivize big chains to play along for more customers.

You know what the fastest growing food chains are? The ones which fly in the face of Nannystate Nutritional Guidelines: Five Guys, Smashburger, Elevation Burger…

http://www.nrn.com/article/fastest-growing-chains-no-3-five-guys-enterprises-llc

Again, all of this is in the absence of legislation. The moment you cross the line into restrictions of liberty like the ban of incandescent bulbs, we have a serious problem.

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/273444/hell-you-people-jonah-goldberg#

And here is a thorough Daniel Pipes piece on Abdo, the would-be second Ft Hood jihadist:

http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2010/08/can-a-muslim-be-a-loyal-american-soldier