Free Republic

A North Carolina mom is irate after her four-year-old daughter returned home late last month with an uneaten lunch the mother had packed for the girl earlier that day. But she wasn’t mad because the daughter decided to go on a hunger strike. Instead, the reason the daughter didn‘t eat her lunch is because someone at the school determined the lunch wasn’t healthy enough and sent it back home. Yes, you read that right. The incident happened in Raeford, N.C. at West Hoke Elementary School. What was wrong with the lunch? That’s still a head-scratcher because it didn’t contain anything...

EU officials concluded that, following a three-year investigation, there was no evidence to prove the previously undisputed fact. Producers of bottled water are now forbidden by law from making the claim and will face a two-year jail sentence if they defy the edict, which comes into force in the UK next month. Last night, critics claimed the EU was at odds with both science and common sense. Conservative MEP Roger Helmer said: “This is stupidity writ large. “The euro is burning, the EU is falling apart and yet here they are: highly-paid, highly-pensioned officials worrying about the obvious qualities of...

EU bans claim that water can prevent dehydration Brussels bureaucrats were ridiculed yesterday after banning drink manufacturers from claiming that water can prevent dehydration. EU officials concluded that, following a three-year investigation, there was no evidence to prove the previously undisputed fact. Producers of bottled water are now forbidden by law from making the claim and will face a two-year jail sentence if they defy the edict, which comes into force in the UK next month. Last night, critics claimed the EU was at odds with both science and common sense. Conservative MEP Roger Helmer said: “This is stupidity writ...

Now that Casey Anthony has been found not guilty of murdering her daughter Caylee, she faces a civil lawsuit from a woman who says Anthony falsely accused her of kidnapping the girl...

It's not unusual for the federal government to provoke widespread retching among its citizens, but it rarely does so intentionally. The new warning labels required on cigarette packs, however, have that goal. Designed to evoke disgust with smoking, they may also induce revulsion at excessive uses of power. The old cigarette warnings inform consumers of straightforward facts, such as: "Smoking Causes Lung Cancer, Heart Disease, Emphysema, And May Complicate Pregnancy" and "Quitting Smoking Now Greatly Reduces Serious Risks to Your Health." Thanks in part to such labels, Americans today fully grasp that smoking is unsafe. But the point of the...

I wish I could give my grandkids the childhood that I had. As a kid I thought I was depressed, abused, mistreated (especially by my sister), overworked, exploited, deprived, ignored, etc…ad infinitum. My grandkids should be so lucky. I learned what makes things work. What it takes to catch a fish. What to do about the things that do not work. I learned about manners, morals, and how to be true to your self. I learned a work ethic kids today will never know. I learned how to stand up for myself and be responsible for my actions. [snip]The...

No French fries. Or freedom fries for that matter. The New York City Health Department has issued new guidelines banning fried foods from its work-sponsored meals, telling employees to cut bagels and muffins in half, and saying that if cakes are served for a celebration, they can’t be coupled with cookies. According to the Health Department, it’s about being consistent. The Daily News explains: "Employees also got a bright-colored brochure stipulating what can and can’t be served at meetings and parties. "Tap water is a menu must when food or drinks are served. Other beverages must be less than 25...

The American Lung Assoc. gives Santee a failing grade for tobacco control, the Mayor responds. I am writing in response to the American Lung Association's (ALA) March 4 letter (see the letter in the media box) regarding Santee's overall grade of "F" in their annual State of Tobacco Control Report Card. They may see it as a grade of "F" from their perspective, as our being graded a failure; I see this grade of "F" from our perspective as being the highest grade for "FREEDOM" we could earn. In Santee we believe in life liberty and the pursuit of happiness....

The Soggies have finally won: Cap'n Crunch is quietly sailing into retirement. Long derided by health experts for its high sugar content – a single serving contains 12 grams – the cereal is no longer being actively marketed by Quaker, DailyFinance reports. It appears parent company Pepsico is forcing the good Cap'n to walk the plank. Cap'n Crunch was once the No. 1 breakfast cereal, but pressure from the White House and health activists is having an effect on how PepsiCo and other food companies peddle their products to kids. Sales of the cereal were down 6.8 percent in 2010.

New York Fast Food Calorie Information Law Has Little Effect (New York, NY) -- A New York City law that mandated calorie information be displayed in fast food restaurants has had little effect. A New York University study found the labels don't really influence food choice. Researchers say ten-percent of those polled before the law went into effect noticed calorie labeling in restaurants. While awareness surged to about half after the signs went up, only about a quarter of those who saw the signs said it mattered to them. The reason for the policy was that if you had more...

These two headlines adjacent today on Drudge. What else is there to say about the Obamanation? White House Super Bowl menu: 'Bratwurst, Kielbasa, Cheeseburgers, Deep Dish Pizza, Buffalo Wings, Potato Salad, Twice Baked Potatoes, Potato Chips, Pretzels, Chips and Dips, Salad, Ice Cream'... RESTAURANT NUTRITION DRAWS FOCUS OF FIRST LADY...

Michelle Obama's Barbecue Hypocrisy By Andrew Cline February 4, 2011 The first rule of political pandering: Know what you're talking about.The classic example: In 2004, Sen. John Kerry, trying to bolster his regular guy image, spoke of Green Bay's hallowed ";Lambert Field." It's Lambeau Field. Ten dork points for Kerry. This week, Michelle Obama walked into a culinary version of the Lambert gaffe. In an e-mail congratulating Charlotte, N.C., on being named host city for the 2012 Democratic National Convention, Obama mentioned that Charlotte has "great barbecue." As someone who grew up an hour from Charlotte, I can tell you...

He snorted with derision at "libertarians" who fail to recognize that "we don't have a health-care crisis in this country, but a health crisis." He spoke with passion and knowledge on the need for preventative care to bring down exorbitant costs. And then, without the least amount of prompting, he mustered a vigorous defense of Mrs. Obama's "Let's Move" campaign against childhood obesity. This was the "art of governing," he argued, rather than the cheap "science of campaigning."

Conservatives and libertarians are constantly railing against government intervention in the lives of citizens. As such, they are often accused by the left of hating all forms of government and seeking to deregulate everything to the point where corporations can take over the country and rob and enslave the citizenry. Nothing could be farther than the truth. Conservatives understand a successful nation requires a functioning government with a strong rule of law. Without a well functioning government a society devolves into chaos and anarchy. Anarchy in turn usually leads to the rise of a strongman or powerful groups who take...

In Ipswich, England, the once World's Fattest Man, a former postal employee, is suing the National Health Service for allowing him to become so obese. The 50 year old man asked for help at 30 stone(a stone equals 14 pounds), but feels he received poor advice from a medic in 1996 who advised him to ride his bike more often. He is also complaining that at 64 stone, he asked to see an eating disorders specialist, he feels he was wronged by being sent to a dietician; Consequently, he blames the NHS and these two issues for his weight getting...

Popular New Year's Resolutions Check out some New Year's resolutions that are popular year after year. Drink Less Alcohol Get a Better Education Get a Better Job Get Fit Lose Weight Manage Debt Manage Stress Quit Smoking Now Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle Save Money Take a Trip Volunteer to Help Others

"San Francisco has become the first major U.S. city to pass a law that cracks down on the popular practice of giving away free toys with unhealthy restaurant meals for children." I saw the attached article on Drudge and had been hearing it on the TV and radio reports and it just got me thinking. All these bations of liberalism want to do things like ban trans fats, tax sugary drinks, ban the Happy Meal because they believe in the Nanny State and they know what is best for you...HOWEVER, these same people want to legalize marijuana and want to...

A mother feeding the ducks with her two children was stunned when she was told off by a council warden - for giving the birds 'unhealthy' white bread. Lisa Taplin, 34, was told by the park ranger to bring granary or wholemeal bread next time as it was better for the ducks.

Bavarian beer purveyors concerned about a smelly Oktoberfest are hoping bacteria can make the experience more enjoyable. They plan to pour a solution of live bacteria on the floors of Munich's beer tents, in an effort to knock out the inevitable festival smells usually covered up by a fog of cigarette smoke. Voters in Bavaria passed a statewide smoking ban in July, and it took effect last month. Oktoberfest gets an exception through 2011, but organizers want to conduct a test run during the festival’s 200th anniversary, which starts next week. Its ill effects aside, cigarette smoke is a pretty...

**** Those who prudently saved against the contingencies of this world, have subtly numbered themselves among "the rich." And, "tax the rich" is the received solution. For generations now, "progressive" politicians, imposing "progressive" tax systems, have been making an example of the prudent. The cultivation and manipulation of envy is at the heart of all political schemes for income redistribution, and parties of the Left have been building their client base upon it. Hence the gradual division of every electorate between the Party of Entitlement, and the Party of Tax Cuts: the one to increase spending, the other to limit...

The birthplace of California's drive-through craze has had its fill of fast food restaurants. Amid complaints of obesity and lines of idled cars stretching into neighborhood streets, this blue-collar town is banning new drive-throughs in hopes of shedding its reputation as a haven for convenient, fatty foods. It's an ironic development for a community that proudly claims to have opened California's first drive-through restaurant more than 60 years ago — a little joint named, appropriately enough, In-N-Out.

When it comes to tobacco control, it often seems that the policy is decided first and the science is produced as an afterthought. Since the lion's shares of the anti-smoking policies we see today were planned as far back as the 1970s, it is a remarkable coincidence that scientific evidence for each of them appeared at regular and timely intervals in the intervening years. This is something that The Economist gently hinted at in a recent review of a book called Merchants of Doubt: ~snip~ Secondhand smoke is old news in California these days, of course. These days, if you're...

BENTON HARBOR - Howard Weyers believes that the bottom line for health care costs depends on what's happening with the waist lines of employees. Or the lungs, or any other organ that could fail due to misuse or neglect and cost an employer money. And he believes those employers should be encouraging workers to live healthier lifestyles and aggressively monitoring what they do inside - and outside - of the workplace. "If we do nothing about personal health, we will do nothing with cost," Weyers, a health benefit consultant based near Lansing, told about 40 people Friday at his seminar...

Personal responsibility just got thrown out the window — again — thanks to a nanny state congressman with hopes of saving ourselves and others from — you guessed it — us! Rep. John Sarbanes (D-Md.) on Thursday, June 10, successfully attached an amendment to the Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 2010 that would “authorize $8 million in annual funding for five years for the Driver Alcohol Detection System for Safety (DADSS) program.” The DADSS technology proposed in the ROADS SAFE amendment will likely lead to alcohol-sensing devices becoming mandatory factory-installed equipment on all automobiles within the next five-to-ten years, reports...

Michael Nuzzo and his two older brothers learned from their father, Fred, the intracacies -- and hard work -- involved in making Italian pies at the New Haven pizzeria he started in 1955. All three eventually started their own restaurants. Today, a third generation of Nuzzos, Michael's three children -- ages 13, 11 and 8 -- for years have spent Friday nights and Saturdays learning the business at their father's Grand Apizza restaurant in Clinton. That is until two weeks ago, when a Connecticut Labor Department investigator -- apparently acting on an anonymous tip -- showed up May 12 at...

Rep. Kind of Wisconsin has introduced legislation that he proudly proclaims will track the body mass index (BMI) of your child from age 2-18 . . . .

There is a smoking story making the rounds here in New York. Seems the New York State Legislature has cut funding thirty-percent to its anti-smoking program. These cuts were over a three-year period. Many other programs and agencies also saw their funding reduced: the State has a large budget deficit. Among other consequences, the tighter anti-smoking budget forced a scaling back of the free nicotine-patch program. That’s not my “free”, incidentally. It arose from the fruitful imagination of one Russ Sciandra, who bills himself director of the Center for a Tobacco Free New York, a mysterious not-for-profit. We must not...

Forget secondhand smoke — smokers are officially second- class citizens. If you’re a smoker and looking for work, don’t bother sending a resume to Chattanooga’s Memorial Hospital — you’re not wanted there. The hospital says it won’t hire smokers, no matter where they might smoke or how often (or how little) they do it. Goodbye, freedom and privacy — we hardly knew you. Even nicotine gum chewers won’t be eligible to work at the hospital under this cockamamie new policy. The hospital says it will test prospective employees for nicotine along with illegal drugs…lumping smokers and crackheads together. Fail the...

img src="http://rightbias.com/News/Images/nanny-state%20250.JPG" alt="" align="right" />Since I've been otherwise occupied making a living, it's reassuring to know that my government is looking out for me. In just the last month, our tireless public servants have proposed numerous measures that will make my life better and more worry free. No longer will I have to worry about drug addicts being able to rig a urine test. The Senate is set to vote on a measure that would make it illegal to sell fake urine for the purpose of falsifying a drug test. Whew. While they're at it, Congress is also working on...

Midway through D.C.'s February Snowpocalypse, with dystopian visions dancing in my head, I rented the 1982 sci-fi classic "Blade Runner." The movie's noir-ish picture of Los Angeles in 2019-dimly-lit and rainy, with flying cars, sexy replicants, and gruff, chain-smoking detectives-seems less prescient (and less foreboding) the closer we get to the year it depicts. As the DVD played, one thought kept distracting me: "It's so cute that they used to think you'd be allowed to smoke in the future." From a 2010 vantage point, the 21st century seems to promise an entirely different flavor of nightmare-one in which every individual...

The Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control began sending underage operatives into stores in the 1990s in an attempt to buy alcohol, usually beer. But in the past year, they began targeting another beverage: alcoholic energy drinks. The rising popularity of the drinks with teens fueled the change, said Robert Simmons Jr., an ABC special agent. They pose a special problem because they look like their non alcoholic counterparts, making them easy to slip past distracted or uninformed cashiers and fool parents and sometimes even police, he said. But with as much caffeine as several cups of coffee and twice...

Malkin’s syndicated column today hits on my point about the Census Bureau’s semi-official slogan … fill out the census so your community gets their fair share. Gotta ensure you’re in the front of the line to feed from the federal government’s teat, so fill out the census you goofball!

Scientists have finally confirmed what the rest of us have suspected for years: Bacon, cheesecake, and other delicious yet fattening foods may be addictive. A new study in rats suggests that high-fat, high-calorie foods affect the brain in much the same way as cocaine and heroin. When rats consume these foods in great enough quantities, it leads to compulsive eating habits that resemble drug addiction, the study found. Doing drugs such as cocaine and eating too much junk food both gradually overload the so-called pleasure centers in the brain, according to Paul J. Kenny, Ph.D., an associate professor of molecular...

In 2008, a city planner filed a lawsuit claiming a co-worker's perfume made it challenging for her to do her job. Susan McBride filed her lawsuit under the American with Disabilities Act, because she said he co-workers' fragrances made it hard for her to breath. She was awarded $100,000. "One of the things the city is going to have to figure out is how they enforce the policy they've agreed to," said attorney John Holmquist. "The city is going to have to get involved in hygiene, I'd guess you'd say, which no employer wants to get involved in." A notice...

Is soda the new tobacco? In their critics’ eyes, producers of sugar-sweetened drinks are acting a lot like the tobacco industry of old: marketing heavily to children, claiming their products are healthy or at worst benign, and lobbying to prevent change. The industry says there are critical differences: in moderate quantities soda isn’t harmful, nor is it addictive. The problem is that at roughly 50 gallons per person per year, our consumption of soda, not to mention other sugar-sweetened beverages, is far from moderate, and appears to be an important factor in the rise in childhood obesity. This increase is...

One of the more extreme proposals floated early in the national health care debate was the idea of taxing soda and other sugary beverages. That trial balloon was almost immediately shot down by the American public, but the Obama administration is attempting to achieve, by subterfuge, soda taxes and a lot of other ways to micromanage our lives in the name of public health—whether or not ObamaCare passes. The mechanism is buried in last year’s $862-billion-and-counting stimulus bill, and works by diverting hundreds of millions of dollars that should be promoting economic growth to instead pay lobbyists to push for...

Temple University researchers create a unique program to help new moms cut down on babies' exposure to second-hand smokeIn underserved areas like North Philadelphia, existing research shows a nearly 10 percent higher smoking rate than in the general population, with a lower quit rate to boot. The consequences of this public health problem are magnified for new mothers that smoke, as they also expose their babies to the ill effects of second-hand smoke. Brad Collins, an assistant professor of public health at the College of Health Professions and Social Work, has been testing ways to improve smoking treatments in underserved...

McCain-Dorgan Bill could make nutritional supplements available only by doctor’s prescription; stifling natural product innovation. (FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.) - Ironically, in the middle of American Heart Month 2010, the U.S. Senate is weighing a proposed amendment to the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 321) that could deny freedom of access and mandate a doctor’s prescription for many dietary supplements, like purified fish oil, which could become seven times more expensive than it is today. Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Byron Dorgan (D-ND) have dubbed their new bipartisan bill the “Dietary Supplement Safety Act of 2010.” A reading...

Recent figures on both sides of the Atlantic suggest claims of an epidemic of weight-related illness are grossly exagerrated. Everyone knows The Truth about obesity: we’re getting fatter each year. Our growing girth is termed everything from the ‘pandemic of the twenty-first century’ to an ‘obesity tsunami’. But the evidence is now flooding in from both America and England that obesity is the epidemic that never was. Two studies produced by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and published last week in the Journal of the American Medical Association – one about obesity in children and adolescents,...

Remember Louise Woodward, the English Nanny convicted in part by Martha Coakley in 1998. People had very strong opinions on the case, many felt she was guilty, I always was sure she was innocent. Well I wonder if many like me missed the recent update to the story. The Prosecutions star medical expert has since reversed his opinion that convicted Woodward, based on fairly new scientific research. The article goes on to suggest that hundreds of innocent people are currently in prison for this FALSE SBS Shaken baby Syndrome. This is related to the current Coakley discussions so I share...

We have seen the previews. The film looks really awful. In fact, it may turn out to be a horror film. I’ll try my best to avoid it. But if you sit idly and allow bureaucrats to seize even more power over your life, I wish you good luck and good health. You’ll need both.

At first glance, Moshe Holtzberg looks like any happy boy on the brink of his third birthday. Messy lunches and tons of playtime is how the lovable tot spends his time with his grandparents and nanny living in Afula, Israel. But Moshe is far from normal. He is a living miracle. Last year, a group of gunmen stormed into Moshe's old house in Mumbai, India, killing his parents and four others at the Chabad-Lubavitch Jewish center. His nanny, Sandra Samuel, managed to grab him half way into the 36-hour siege, running from the chaos and saving his life. "He remembers...

FALLS CHURCH, Va. — Fourteen people have been charged with illegally purchasing 77 million contraband cigarettes from undercover agents in Virginia and smuggling the cigarettes to New York. Two are also accused of paying an agent posing as a hit man to kill a husband and wife whom they believed had stolen from them. The indictments handed up Thursday in federal court in Alexandria are the culmination of a yearlong investigation. Authorities say the smuggling ring paid $8 million plus guns and drugs to the undercover agents for the cigarettes. Cigarette smuggling has increased in recent years as high taxes...

I'm all for Liberty but I'd sacrifice some rights for a tough love leader and a law against Big Gulps. ......And people love a good dictator — or at least get over their hatred of one pretty quickly — provided that the dictator doesn't put up too many pictures of himself. We instinctively object to new forms of paternalism, but we also quickly accept them: ......President Obama should probably get a little bit dictatorial up in here. He's the only person in the U.S. unaware that we elected him dictator, giving him both houses of Congress and the major television...

OKLAHOMA CITY — As more and more cities and states pass laws banning the use of cell phones – including texting – while driving, this “nanny statism” has finally struck lawmakers in Oklahoma. And that’s unfortunate. Oklahomans tend to pride themselves on the fact that more government intervention is not a good idea. Good old-fashioned common sense is usually acceptable and reasonable laws are followed. Banning cell phones and texting while driving is unreasonable, in the eyes of the Oklahoma Watchdog. Rep. Sue Tibbs, a Tulsa Republican who serves on the House Public Safety Committee, is planning to introduce a...

Americans need more exercise, not another tax. Obesity is a complex issue, and addressing it is important for all Americans. We at the Coca-Cola company are committed to working with government and health organizations to implement effective solutions to address this problem. But a number of public-health advocates have already come up with what they think is the solution: heavy taxes on some routine foods and beverages that they have decided are high in calories. The taxes, the advocates acknowledge, are intended to limit consumption of targeted foods and help you to accept the diet that they have determined is...

[snip] Granholm spokeswoman Liz Boyd said the agency was following standard procedure in its response. "But we feel this (law) really gets in the way of common sense," Boyd said. "We want to protect kids, but the law needs to be reasonable," she said. "When the governor learned of this, she acted quickly and called the director personally to ask him to intervene." State Rep. Brian Calley, R-Portland, said he was working to draft legislation that would exempt situations like Snyder's from coverage under Michigan's current day care regulations. The bill will make it clear that people who aren't in...

Clair McCaskill thinks she's a neurologist. These people hold elected office and actually think they are entitled to tell folks what they need better than the scientists that treat them! http://www.foxnews.com/search-results/m/26494935/suffering-scooters.htm#q=McCaskill+Scooters So if you are a person with MS, Parkinsons, ALS and Huntingdon's disease, lets land our sorry butts in Clair's office and tell her what we think of her medical knowledge.

WASHINGTON – The government is trying to make it easier for Americans to save for retirement, President Barack Obama said Saturday, as he noted the toll the recession has taken on extra income and savings accounts. One initiative will allow people to have their federal tax refunds sent as savings bonds. Others are meant to require workers to take action to stay out of an employer-run savings program rather than having to take action to join it. "We know that automatic enrollment has made a big difference in participation rates by making it simpler for workers to save," Obama said...

Well...finally a website where we kindergartners can go to find out how to be healthy. Thank you President Obama!