"You eat that? I ain't proud. Spit it out."
Posted on 02/08/2010 3:39:11 AM PST by UAConservative
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration will begin a drive this week to expel Pepsi, French fries and Snickers bars from the nation’s schools in hopes of reducing the number of children who get fat during their school years.
In legislation, soon to be introduced, candy and sugary beverages would be banned and many schools would be required to offer more nutritious fare.
To that end, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will deliver a speech Monday at the National Press Club in which he will insist, according to excerpts provided to The Times, that any vending machines that remain in schools be “filled with nutritious offerings to make the healthy choice the easy choice for our nation’s children.”
The first lady, Michelle Obama, said last month that she would lead an initiative to reduce childhood obesity, and her involvement “shows the importance all of us place on this issue,” Mr. Vilsack said.
The administration’s willingness to put Mrs. Obama’s popularity on the line is a calculated bet that concerns about childhood obesity have become so universal that the once-partisan fight over who should control school food offerings — the federal government or school boards — has subsided.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Please tell me where in the Constitution, Mrs. Lincoln, the Federal government has the power to do this? Nowhere? That's what I thought.
If only this were our largest problem. Yes, I know — give them an inch and they take your lunch.
It’s not the food. It’s the games the government took away. Merry-go-rounds, cops and robbers, dodge ball, monkey bars, snow ball fights, tag your it. etc....
That said, what on earth are these school boards thinking when they put soda machines, candy bars, etc., in the schools? I ate in the school cafeteria for 12 years and the only "junk food" was probably the jello for dessert. If you didn't like the food, you had the option of bringing your lunch from home.
Milk was subsidized from the government, which kept the price of lunch down somewhat, but we had relatively nourishing fare and everyone ate it.
Inspired by the lie of, "everyone wins a gold medal, because we're all winners!"
Ugh. And we wonder why my generation's mediocre these days!
Great point, just me
and the threat of lawsuits
"You eat that? I ain't proud. Spit it out."
The more effective argument against this is that it just simply isn't going to work. Do they really believe that banning certain foods (and who decides which ones?) from certain places at certain times of the day is going to instantly turn kids onto whatever "healthy" alternative they provide as a substitute? Most of them will just get their sugar fix after school, or they will bring the candy in with them from home. Banning things hardly ever works. Usually its counterproductive (think prohibition).
I agree. Kids dont play outside enough any more.
Beside that , kids arent getting fat from what they eat in school. They are getting fat from what they eat at home.
She really believes that all children belong to the government.
States and counties should be banning the junk food. This is 0bama style nanny state intrusiveness at its best. All designed to make 0 look good
More useless Federal workers trying to look necessary and useful
Another illustration of why too much taxes are paid to the Imperial Government in DC
The Federal employees are so useless and have so much time on their hands they want to meddle w junk food in the local school districts.
I’m with you, I don’t know when junk food came into the schools. The only pop or candy machines in our school were in the teacher’s lounge and that room was off limits.
Of course we weren’t allowed to wear shorts in school or leave for lunch.
Back in the 70s there were no soda or candy machines in my school anyway.
What about the kids who can eat “junk” and not get fat? They get “punished” too? Heck, I pretty much lived on either processed cheese steaks or 2 of those little rectangle pizzas, plus a bag or two of cheese-doodles or Tastycakes for lunch every day and I was built like a stick-figure all thru’ school (much to my dismay, considering I got called Flatsy-Patsy more often then I care to admit). But yep, I also played outside in all kinds of weather, swam all summer and walked a mile+ to and from school every day until high school. You want kids to not get fat? Educate them on proper exercise and nutrition, stop with the namby-pamby self-esteem crap and if they live in places that aren’t safe to play outside, do something!! Or how about buying them all a Wii-Fit or somesuch? Use some of that” “Obama Stash”, eh?
The schools are far more permissive than they used to be in some (usually wrong) ways.
“we had relatively nourishing fare”
Except for the ?mystery meat!” I lived in the dorm.
The federal government should not be allowed to do this.
I will be honest though. I would support the county school board if they passed such a policy. Kids should be eating healthier in schools. The feds shouldn’t be the ones to do it but a county school board that I could get elected to? Absolutely.
There is no reason that vending machines should be in schools. And there is a huge youth obesity problem in the country and it self-perpetuates. So, the actor is wrong here. Shouldn’t be the feds. It’s not a bad idea though.
But back when I was going to school there was absolutely no junk food available at my schools during school hours. No soda, no candy (during school hours). The only vending machine in the cafeteria dispensed Tropicana Orange Juice.
In the 70s I worked with a good conservative who was absolutely livid that the public school his kids were attending put in a vending machine that sold Twinkies. (I remember him being on the phone quite a bit about this, and one morning he came in to find all the drawers in his desk filled with Twinkies. At least he thought it was amusing!)
But now we let the inmates run the asylum. So when I visited my old high school for a day several years ago, it was junk food heaven. They had a food court! Pizza, hamburgers, hot dogs, french fries. I don't recall whether they even bothered to have a competing dietitian designed hot lunch.
ML/NJ
The federal government should not do this. However, when talking about public schools that are run on taxpayer money the agents of the taxpayer, in this case, the school board, do have every right to dictate how that money is spent. That’s why I oppose vouchers even as I shelled out a pretty penny to send all my kids to private schools. Because I realize that even one drop of government money comes with government obligations.
My father made a fortune as a contractor because he cultivated a good relationship with Governor Wallace. You better believe that there were strings attached and that he was expected to do things for Wallace.
That’s the nature of government money. If it is a government school then the government has every right to say how it is run. And I support the idea in principle but I firmly believe it should be a decision of the local school boards and not Washington.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.