Message from New York
Friday, June 29, 2012 at 9:45 
We invited Forest supporter Joe Jackson to The Freedom Dinner on Tuesday. We even invited him to perform.
He couldn't come but he had a good excuse. He was in the US for the launch of his new album The Duke which features "unique interpretations of Duke Ellington classics".
Instead Joe sent the following message:
I am currently on my way to New York where Mayor Bloomberg's reign of terror continues. A few months ago he banned donations of food to the homeless, on the grounds that his Department of Health would not be able to monitor or control it. Now he is set to ban any servings of fizzy drinks over 16 ounces.
This, of course, is the same guy who claimed that his smoking ban would save 1,000 lives per year. Needless to say, nine years later, there is not a shred of evidence for this. But mainstream journalists and politicians don't care. Nor do they call the mayor a nanny, a bully, or an elitist control freak. Why? Because he said the magic word: 'Health'. That's all you have to do.
Meanwhile the UK is being sold the concept of 'plain packaging' (which really means packaging covered in gruesome pictures of rotting teeth, etc). Of course it's ridiculous for any number of reasons, but so long as the word 'health' is used - closely followed by the word 'children' - all reason, logic, and healthy skepticism just go straight out the window, not to mention little things like free choice, pleasure, fairness and tolerance.
Every nannying, bullying control freak in the world is getting everything they want, handed to them on a silver platter, all they have to do is say those two little words. What is it going to take to change this pathetic state of affairs?
PS. The Duke is reviewed here. To order a copy visit Joe's official website. See also: Joe Jackson marches to his own beat (Chicago Tribune)
Reader Comments (2)
Good luck with your album Joe, and well said.
Please remember what happened to John Lennon in New York - they don't take kindly to 'foreigners' messing in their affairs!
Actually, Bloomberg's magic word is not so much "health" as it is "money". That's how he bought the mayoralty 3 times and why few stand up to him.
"Fun" fact: at the same time Bloomie was instituting his smoking ban, he was shutting down a very successful children's asthma clinic in the Bronx. That's how much he cares about health.