Pun Salad

The national restaurant chain Ruby Tuesday added a low-fat Blueberry D'Lite yogurt parfait to its menu more than a year ago to capitalize on the apparent growing appetite among consumers for healthful fare. The parfait joined more than 40 better-for-you offerings, along with listings of calorie and fat contents for everything on the menu. … But diners didn't bite. So Ruby Tuesday has eliminated the Blueberry D'Lite, along with several other healthful dishes ditched after a lengthy period of slumping sales at the chain. Calorie and fat information was dropped except on the healthful items that survived and were moved to the back of the menu.

Not that I care what happens at Ruby Tuesday; I've been to one in Portland, Maine, and one in Orlando, Florida, got crappy service and mediocre food both times, so I won't be back. Other than that, however, when reading the article … it's like they're looking over my shoulder when I dine out. I think (or maybe I'd like to think) I'd look for healthier restaurant food if I did it more often. But if it's a once-a-week thing, I'm usually successfully tempted to spend my money on something I'll really enjoy. Which usually means something with lots of calories, fat, and salt.

What Wal-Mart's opponents can't win through organizing or in the marketplace, it seems, they now seek to achieve through the raw exercise of political power.

Read the article to find out how that works, and how it works to the ultimate disadvantage of the little guys. (You mean the leprechauns? Why, yes I do.)

My reaction to politicians tends to wander around a little between what I consider to be the only three possible options. Laugh at them, ignore them, or experience a (so far repressed) desire to have them tap dancing on air from the nearest lamp-post.

Read the whole thing, and then …