News10.net reports that California is moving to ban the use of trans fats in restaurant menu items.

The bill is being challenged by restaurant owners across California who worry the trans fat ban will force them to use more expensive alternative oils that could change the flavor of their food for the worse.

Why is it that I can hear sac-eats’ stomach grumbling now as it ponders a world without artery clogging, heart attack creating, yet oh so creamy industrially created as a side effect of partial hydrogenation of plant oils - a process developed in the early 1900s and first commercialized as Crisco in 1911, trans fatty acids?

“It’s going to be a big fight,” said Terri Mead, manager of Sacramento’s Pancake Circus Restaurant. “We don’t want them telling us what we can and can’t use in the restaurant.”

You tell’em Terri (a nay sayer from the Pancake Circus? Get out…). We don’t want those health freaks telling us what to do. Next thing you know we’ll have the government telling us that we have to maintain a certain level of “cleanliness” and “freshness” in order to “pass” a random “inspection” or face being “shut down”.

As someone who just threw back 3 or 8 zero trans fats per serving Tagalongs, let me just say that I don’t miss the trans fats at all.  And if it is good enough for our Girl Scouts of the USA, it’s good enough for me.

I made the mistake of telling Mark at Superior Builders, Inc. that I needed a quote from his company on what I considered to be a small job at my house. Then Mark made the mistake of admitting to me that this is a turnoff to him because when people have it in their minds that the job is small, they can’t be convinced that it’s actually a big job, at coincidentally a much larger price. I decided to humor Mark…

Me: Okay, let’s just say I have just had a change of heart, and I’d like to have your company give me a quote on a job of undeterminate size.
Mark: Yeah, we’d have to pass on that.

I’m not saying that you should not call Superior Builders, Inc. for your contracting needs. I’m just saying don’t tell them you want a small deck built, lest they try to convince you that you actually want the hanging gardens of Babylon in your backyard.

The President of the United States of America has spoken many times about our need to become less dependent on foreign oil by reducing consumption and using alternative energy sources. In a true show of defiance, Sacramentans said “No way, dude!” and increased their demand for the popular gas guzzling Hummer sport/war utility vehicle/tank.

According to news10.net:

“People are still wanting them,” Hummer of Sacramento spokesman Andy Mullins said. “People are still buying them.” In fact, Mullins said Hummer sales at the dealership quadrupled in April 2006 over the same period last year.

That’s right, what does the President know anyway?

“People definitely mention (fuel economy),” Mullins said. “It’s not like they’re oblivious to what’s going on with the market, but it definitely doesn’t seem to get in the way of their purchase decision.”

Booya! Take that, Powers That Be!

Some may argue that the folks that can afford a Hummer can also afford the gas to put in it. While I agree, I find it odd that those in that tax bracket see no need to lead by example and do right by their President. But that’s just me, I could be wrong.

Yesterday, RonTopofIt and I joked that an alternate “evil” version of The Sac Rag might lament the fact that the Rag’s favorite taqueria, La Fiesta, would be closed in deference to the massive protest/walk-out. Well, if any of you enjoyed yourselves some “24″ last night and stuck around for the Fox 40 newscast, you may have caught Joe Orlando’s reporting on the day’s events, which included as a jokey closing remark that the protests had hit too close to home because his own favorite taqueria, La Favorita was closed for the day.
On a side note, CoolDMZ would like to give a big thumbs up to El Novillero on Franklin Blvd for making their own way in the world. Owner Jose Davalos decided to stay open yesterday against the wishes of nameless thugs who tried to intimidate his staff over the phone:

“The callers were trying to intimidate us into closing. When my son and other employees said that yes, we would be open, the callers said that was bad.”

El Novillero’s employees, most of Mexican descent, didn’t want Monday off, Davalos said.

“They wanted to work,” he said. “That’s why they came to this country.”

Regular Sac Rag readers know that we love to debate the principles of supply and demand as they pertain to the Sacramento housing market. With that in mind, I’d like to offer up a preemptive discussion about gas prices and the proposed annual Gas Boycott that is surely making it’s way to your electronic mail inbox.

A boycott of a couple of brands of gasoline won’t result in lower overall prices. Prices at all the non-boycotted outlets would rise due to the temporarily limited supply and increased demand, making the original prices look cheap by comparison. The shunned outlets could then make a killing by offering gasoline at its “normal” (i.e., pre-boycott) price or by selling off their output to the non-boycotted companies, who will need the extra supply to meet demand. The only person who really gets hurt in this proposed scheme is the service station operator, who has almost no control over the price of gasoline.

While we’re on the topic, don’t forget to visit this site to find the lowest prices in our fair city.

I knew this category would come in handy. What I did not know was that Heckasac would be the main source for it. Read Beckler’s harrowing tale, courtesy of a sharp-eyed reader, of mistreatment of a homeless man at Paesano’s.