California city rejects aspartame bailout

On Tuesday, voters in Richmond, California, were confronted with a referendumb that would have imposed a tax on soft drinks - but would have absurdly exempted those that contained poisonous artificial sweeteners.

Some folks seemed to ignore the fact that this measure featured the fatal sting of an aspartame bailout. They were gonna vote for it, dammit, and the hell with anyone like us who was worried about letting toxic chemicals off the hook.

Well, the measure lost. A smashing 67% of the city's voters voted against this bailout.

If the referendum hadn't exempted diet sodas, I probably never would have discussed it here. And it may well have passed.

But nooooo! It had to be their way or the highway, didn't it?