A small step towards sanity for the Chicago City Council

As much as I like to hammer on the nanny-staters in the Chicago City Council, I should give them credit when they deserve it. Yesterday they repealed the city's ban on foie gras, which is some kind of fancy food, being served in restaurants. You could still always buy it at the store and cook it home. I had never heard of it before the ban (as I imagine is the case with most Chicagoans), but for some reason Alderman Joe Moore thought it was important enough to pass the ban a couple of years ago. That, of course, made our city a laughingstock. I mean, it's FOOD.

Apparently there were some protocols that were violated to get the repeal through, but I don't care. The right thing was done, and it's not like the city council is known for staunch constitutional principles. What I do know is that Moore is PISSED:

When Moore tried to debate the merits, Daley ruled that the measure was not debatable. He ordered the clerk to call the roll and to continue, even as Moore shouted for the right to be heard.

"If it can happen to me, tomorrow it could happen to you," Moore warned his colleagues.

"Thank you, Ald. Joe ‘Foie Gras’ Moore," Daley said.

After the show of force, Moore denounced the mayor as a dictator and Wednesday’s meeting as a new low.

"Even in the ugliest days of one-man rule, members of the City Council still had the opportunity to ... state their case. For the mayor to fail to recognize me to debate the merits of this issue was the height of arrogance," Moore said.

"The city had placed its mark as a city of compassion, a city that was standing up against [animal] cruelty and it’s taken a giant step backward. But, it’s also taken a giant step backward in ... good old fashioned democracy. ... There was no reason that this issue had to be ramrodded through today," Moore said.

The animal rights crankss are also unhappy, but that just tells me that this was the right thing to do:

Julie Janovsky, a spokesperson for the animal protection group Farm Sanctuary, argued that the foie gras ban had "massive public support" and that the City Council’s repeal "effectively endorsed animal cruelty."

"Chicagoans were proud to live in a city that took a stand for humanity. To reverse a compassionate and admirable decision under pressure from political bullies and special interests shows a cowardly brand of cynicism unlike any we have seen in our efforts to give voice to the most vulnerable beings in society -- animals raised for food," Janovsky said.

Yeah, that's exactly what this repeal did did. Next thing you know they will pass a resolution praising Michael Vick. And a goose or duck is not quite the most vulnerable being in our society (how about babies?), since many of them are killed anyway for food.

I've never eaten it before, but now I want to have some the next time I'm in a fancy joint just to shove it up these animal rights dorks' asses.