Forum Post: I'm sorry, but on some issues, there is a difference...
Posted 13 years ago on Nov. 17, 2011, 11:05 p.m. EST by groobiecat2
(746)
from Brattleboro, VT
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
And on the issue of, say, the ability of the frozen pizza industry to help keep our kids fat because they lobby dumbass far right republicans is one difference. From the Gothamist:
"Great news for the youth of America: the government, which may very well be run by cheese-loving 12-year-olds, has decided that pizza totally counts as a vegetable.
A spending bill pushed through this week with a little help from frozen food manufacturers, the salt industry, potato growers and conservatives who don't think the government should be telling kids what to eat declares the following: two tablespoons of tomato paste shall count as a vegetable, and the USDA can't limit the number of starchy vegetables a kid crams down his gullet every day. In other words: more mushy pies and French freedom fries for all!"
http://gothamist.com/2011/11/16/pizza_now_counts_as_a_vegetable_acc.php
So, yeah, there's policy, it's real, and it actually impacts kids.
And this is what plutocracy looks like...
they say children won't eat if they are not given pizza....i have seen a 43 pound 2 year old put on diet. he used to eat chips and now he eats veggies, rice, chicken, good food....and he is healthier for it.
Yeah, and it's also shows us how absolutely brain-dead our government has become. I guess we should all call the USDA and remind those people that a tomato is a . . . FRUIT.
and this is why no matter what it always remains our premiere responsibility to educate our selves and our children. that's not a slant at the public school system btw, I'm just saying skepticism can be useful in the right doses...
Absolutely right about educating ourselves. But in this case, the "information" is actually "misinformation," that's being promulgated by a bought and paid for congress. That's the point. That's what a plutocracy is...
i didn't disagree ;-)
Indeed. I see your point.
So the parents are incapable of demanding that the school provide a healthier choice for lunches? Why is it that some people feel that only the government knows what's best for us all?
parents are able to demand what's right but the poverty stricken families don't have a strong voice in the schools. they want their kids to be able to eat and the administration in the school has the final say for them....the administration is bound by their own restrictions placed upon them by the government.
Question: What's a school board? Perhaps we should make airport and airplane safety the province of local governments too? I know a guy down the road, he drinks a lot, but he sure knows his engines, maybe he could fix up that 737 for ya?
But you're missing the point anyway: the government sets standards for what constitutes a "vegetable," and the pizza industry is trying to keep its fattening food on the tables. And btw, why not have guidelines that don't lie? It's only information. And in this case, you're for the pizza industry's right to influence our government to lie.
It's not a federal regulatory requirement to remove pizza--there's not official federal mandate--they are simply guidelines.
I never said I was for any industry, but your partisanship blinds you to the opinions of others, it seems. The school boards sets the vision for a school district (as long as it is in line with federal regulations), which is to say that they influence the direction that the schools in that district take. Perhaps I should have made my earlier statement to say that the parents should go to the school board to demand a healthy alternative, but that is semantics.
As for your airport argument, that is apples to oranges as interstate/intercontinental travel obviously requires more regulation than what an elementary school serves for lunch. Are you really comparing the safety of the lives of millions of people in the air to a kids lunch at school?
Doesn't matter whether you're for or against any specific industry. The point of my post was that this is yet another example of plutocracy that undermines the welfare of people. --And it has nothing to do with whether parents are capable of making decisions or not. That's not the point. The point is that extreme reactionary House of Representatives continue to be swayed by industry to dance to the tune of the frozen pizza interests in this country, regardless of whether it makes our kids fat.
As for the airplane comparison? No, I realize they're not the same, but government activity of any kind tends to be vilified among many in our society. And your comment that "Why is it that some people feel that only the government knows what's best for us all?" (which is not the point) indicated that you consider yourself to be in that demographic.
BTW, speaking of logic, your question as to whether the government knows what's best for us all is illogical. Just because they promulgate guidelines for what's considered healthy, doesn't mean that they are removing your ability to judge for yourself or your family. They aren't. But apparently, the republican congress wants them to, at a minimum, lie to you and your family. And that's not terribly logical either...