"To what purpose are powers limited, and to what purpose is that limitation committed to writing,
if these limits may, at any time, be passed by those intended to be restrained?"
-- Chief Justice John Marshall, Marbury v. Madison, 1803

Sunday, March 06, 2005

Here’s Reason 221,901,285 why Arnold Schwarzenegger is the greatest governor of all time.

At the bodybuilding event named for him, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (news - web sites) said Sunday that he wants to ban all sales of junk food in California schools and fill vending machines with fresh fruits, vegetables and milk.

Schwarzenegger’s comments came in during a question-and-answer session with fans, when a questioner asked how he plans to combat youth obesity.

“First of all, we in California this year are introducing legislation that would ban all the sale of junk food in the schools,” Schwarzenegger said.

Aides said later that the governor supports a bill by Democratic state Sen. Martha Escutia that would ban soft drinks at public schools, and that the administration hopes to develop a more comprehensive legislative package dealing with snack foods.

“I wouldn’t say we’re going to ban all” junk food, Chief of Staff Pat Clarey. “We just are looking at additional bills that will deal with snack food at high schools ... we’re looking for healthy snacks.”

This is a subject I’ve blogged on before.

It simply sickens me that the medical establishment in this country is shirking its responsibility by blaming advertising by fast food companies.  The one area that I demur is in the area of children.  I don’t have a problem with Kraft advertising Oreos during Saturday morning cartoons, but I have a big problem with Taco Bell selling food inside a fucking high school.  That is absolutely ridiculous.  Adults are responsible for their own actions, no matter how much advertising is thrown at them, but kids are a totally different story, and a school is absolutely no place for a fast food company to be selling its branded product.  Nonetheless, it is still not Taco Bell’s fault if I fall for their allure and decide to eat their food rather than a healthier alternative.  I walk into a McDonald’s and they have burgers and salads, and if I choose the burger that is nobody’s fault but mine.

Fast food is a competitive business, and they are looking for any possible way to build up brand identity in the youth market, the idea being that students who develop a liking for a particular brand of junk food will eat it their entire life.  So they go to a school board and say, “We’ll give you X amount of money if you let Pizza Hut and Pepsi have an exclusive contract in your schools.” The schools, who are largely run by incompetent morons and are in dire need of money, agree.  So your kids go to school and are offered nothing but junk food to eat every day.  Oh, sure, they have a small salad cart out somewhere to meet whatever legal requirements they need to provide a “healthy alternative.” But when you are 13 or 14, and you have a choice between eating Taco Bell or a salad, which are you going to choose?

I know a 14 year old who goes to one such school.  They have a regular cafeteria setup.  Half of it is run by the school, which offers bland-yet-healthy meals.  The other is a rotating stable of junk food vendors, who provide a different option each day.  On any given day he has either Quizno’s, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, or Chick-Fil-A peddling their wares.  The reason I find this so utterly abhorrent is that the school is the one place where your parents cannot be there to ensure that you make good food choices.  Breakfast and dinner your parents do (or at least should) have some control over what you eat, but at school the kids are all on their own.  The idea that a school would put students in this type of situation is just disgusting.

Arnie is absolutely right, we need to get this sort of thing out of schools.  If the legislation currently before the state government does not go far enough, then he needs to spearhead a campaign of his own.  As a guy who used to weigh 430 lbs, trust me, I know what the consequences of this sort of thing can be.