My earlier post on soda nannies perhaps deserves a coronary corollary.

Check out this opinion, by blogger Nicholas Schweitzer. Money quote:

It seems like every week, fewer and fewer slots in the vending machine [in the building of one of his clients] had actual candy in them. One day the Twix went away and was replaced with granola bars. Then the Take Five bars went away only to see dry roasted peanuts take their place (without salt of course). Almond Joy… gone. Mounds… see ya! [...] Believe it or not, not everyone who goes to the vending machine for a mid-afternoon snack is overweight and in need of your nannying. I compete in triathlons for God’s sake! If I want a damn candy bar, then who are you to deny it to me?! Believe me, I’ll be running off the empty calories in a couple hours while the people who made this brilliant decision will probably be watching TV on their Lazy-Boy.

The food police is also out in force in Somerville, Mass. The local paper writes:

A ban on brownies? Cut off from cupcakes? A PTA sale of … soy nuts?

The School Committee debated on Monday whether bake sales — a major fund-raising tool for school groups, projects and trips — should be prohibited in schools. Roberta Bauer, the Ward 3 School Committee member, asked the committee to endorse State House Bill 1457, the “Anti-Junk Food Bill,” which aims to make food served in public schools more nutritious and prohibits candy vending machines and bake sales during school hours. Bauer said the school district’s food service department already complies with most steps in the bill, such as those ridding schools of candy and soda machines. But bake sales have continued in schools. “We shouldn’t be making money at the expense of our children’s health,” Bauer said. [...]

Carolyn Taylor, of Ward 6, said it would be wise to sell popcorn or more nutritious items at school fund-raisers so students aren’t exposed to food that puts on pounds. “As an overweight, middle-aged woman, I know the trouble I have with turning down high-calorie, low-nutrition items,” she said.

Bravo, Carolyn. There’s nothing like claiming the moral high ground by denying others the right to eat what you indiscriminately shove into your gluttonous gob.

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 22nd, 2005 at 11:57 am by Rogier van Bakel and is filed under Nanny State, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.